More opportunities than you could pursue in 5 lifetimes
Pros
Note: I can only speak to AWS and the Solutions Architect role. Retail or what have you may be different. 1. Mind-blowing number of cool projects/teams/initiatives/programs to investigate. 2. Access to information/tools/etc. Everywhere else I worked was all about fiefdoms and repelling any outsiders that take an interest in what your team has going. No one feels threatened by someone shining a flashlight down their dark alley. 3. The machine is very well oiled. Of course nothing is perfect, but it is difficult to find an internal system or process that is hopelessly broken and only alive because of politics. 4. 95%+ of the people you’ll ever interact with are friendly, approachable, and super helpful. Including (and maybe especially) established rockstars that would pee in your face for talking to them anywhere else. 5. No dead weight helpdesk guy hired in 2003 who hid in a corner and rode the wave of company growth to a Sr. Director role. Somehow with no one reporting to him and responsibilities that could be handed over to a gibbon. 6. At the same time, you don’t feel that depressing Dell vibe where employees are openly regarded as more disposable than the styrofoam cups in the break room where even basic coffee isn’t free. 7. No blame games. If something goes wrong there isn’t a tribunal convened to identify the perpetrator and no public hearings held to ensure everyone understands who the butt-monkey is. At previous vendors, due to this behavior, I saw orgs (especially service orgs dear God) with headcount inflated by 500% because 15 CYA steps have been introduced into every process. 8. You don’t need to worry about getting assigned to a project with a bunch of people whose competence and drive are an open question. Its ok to simply trust people to know what they’re doing or at least be capable of figuring it out.
Cons
If you are the kind of person who rises to a challenge, these aren't really "cons" per se. More like a heads up that Amazon is not just another paycheck with a different logo printed on it. There really is something different going on here. 1. The firehose takes some getting used to. It never stops so don't look for pauses to catch your breath. Embrace it and adjust. 2. You are going to wonder how you could ever do everything on time with enough quality. If the only answer you can come up with is brute force 80 hour weeks, you are doing something wrong. They'll take it if that's all you got, but honestly they don't want you to do that. They want you to innovate and work smarter. They trust you can do this. 3. You may well doubt yourself at first. This is the mediocrity of past employer's expectations talking. After a while you'll be kind of insulted when you realize your previous leadership didn't believe you could be exceptional. If this all sounds too exhausting or unreasonable, you may want to reconsider. Its kinda like doing crossfit for 4 hours a day. A certain type of person would consider that hell on earth and another would revel in it.
