HN user
AWS SA here, but speculating, so take it with a grain of salt.
A lot of customers -- especially the larger ones -- actually share their architecture and have in depth conversations about what they are doing and pain points, etc, with their account teams.
My guess is that they knew because their customers told them (or complained?) that they had fleets of EC2 instances just waiting
36 here, and in a similar spot, though in a very different field (and country.)
That said -- where you are now feels hopeless, and the first thing to really do is try to figure out what you want. I mean that in an almost tactical way -- clearly you have some competing priorities, and it would help to know what you would want in an ideal world, and then make the compromises that are required.
It sounds like money isn't as much of a driver for you as you had initially hoped. So -- what would you want to do if money weren't an object? Does your partner want to stay or just not in as much of a hurry as you to leave?
There are options/possibilities. You might be able to work remotely from somewhere with a lower living cost but with a London-esque salary. There are also places besides London and your hometown.
I say this having been in a similar spot, as mentioned earlier. Burnt out completely at my job -- the one that I had wanted since I was 12. I've been working on a startup now for a little while -- and its by no means a success at all -- but I at least have something to work towards. There's a fantasy. There's something I can imagine working where I can be happy. And with that, there are real conversations I can have with my partner and myself about what we should do. It's not easy, but I have a vague idea now of what I would find rewarding, and at least a path to get there.
Long time employee of one of those companies, here.
To believe that there is some dictate about how a story is covered or why that comes from the top is to believe that we are way more organized than reality. Yes, some corporate-synergy exists to cross-promote, especially on morning shows, but when it comes to news, we are usually pushing so close to deadline there's no way to even allow for corporate control.
That said, there is a need to meet an ever decreasing budget. That's the parent co's real bias; to be cheap.