Freedom and fast pace. Good tech. Management can be better.
Pros
You can run your own agenda inside this company, there's a lot of freedom to try new ideas. There's a plethora of technology experts and internal services that enable you to build great things. There are tech talks all the time by senior engineers. If you have your own agenda, this is the place to go. Amazon has built a great software toolbox for its own internal operations. A lot of tools are aimed at analytics. This is a data-driven company and the toolbox is there to empower this thinking. I really love that aspect of Amazon. I haven't had any bureaucracy problems here. This is a lean company and logistics are very high-performing. IT support is fast and effective. In Amazon, there's freedom, and that freedom is backed by the leadership principles. You can find them on the company's jobs website. This culture is extremely empowering. They ask you to be a leader, in writing. If you like to do so, you feel backed by the company's culture from the very first day. The buildings are functional and comfortable. You can bring your dog, and there are kitchenettes in every floor. I like my workplace, it's just right for me. The office culture looks cold. You don't talk to people unless you need to (including saying hi). This was shocking to me the first days, but now I got used to it and I'm starting to think that it's better to maintain focus.
Cons
Rather than a "con", this is the counterpart of the pros: everyone is busy running their own agenda, and so you need to care about yourself. In particular, you need to be able to back your decisions with data, solid arguments, or evident results. Now, something that I really don't like is that my boss has been breaking a lot of promises and it looks like he doesn't care about it. That's something plainly bad. I just cannot trust my boss' word. The food in the cafeterias is rather expensive. Be ready to negotiate your salary. They will definitely try to save money. Don't undersell yourself.
