Pros
Startup environment Smart, hardworking, generally fun, people. Good stock grants (when stock price is high) Pride in creating an unmatched customer experience. I wasn't in a technical role but in my group the sw developers (SDEs) were great! Relocation package. Ask for it and they will give it. Convenient work locations if you live in Seattle Subsidized mass transit
Cons
Duct-taped back end systems. Amazon is a great customer experience, but better to not know what's going on behind the scenes. Vastly different environment/culture between groups Unnecessary meetings (on many days back-to-back for 8 hours) Absolutely no requirement for people management skills or even some basic level of self-awareness of your own abilities to be a manager at Amazon. In my group a voluntarily terminating employee was given severance pay because a manager's conduct was (in my opinion) actionable, but the manager was given no reprimand and continued to have more employees placed as direct reports. Competing for resources/funding sometimes lends itself to a reality show "today's challenge" environment. I couldn't care less about work/life balance and am a life-long workaholic, but there is absolutely no downtime in some roles. The job I was in broke me and I've now changed careers due to my experience. Ask your recruiter what the turnover rate is in the organization you are interviewing in. They know - everything at Amazon revolves around metrics. People generally don't quit in high numbers with a manager/org that has their back and treats them right.
