Amazon reviews

Compensation -- get the best comp package you can when you start, because you won't get much thereafter and everything will be based on that. If you luck out with a good manager that will fight for you, you may have a chance. Otherwise, the only way to get any decent raises is to get really well known and a lot of senior management to think on you favorably (without making any enemies) so that when your name comes up in a ratings review meeting. Reviews -- feedback/actual performance and compensation are unrelated. Promotions are fights requiring significant documentation and a boss that likes you and a boss that likes your boss. Management is generally very hit or miss -- a good manager can make all the difference in the world and a bad manager can be only mildly damaging at best. Employee recognition (especially for non-software developers) is nonexistent unless your particular manager cares about it. As with many larger companies, the individual group you are in makes a huge difference.

My only real problem with Amazon was the massive time drain and how it ate into my personal life outside of "work hours"; 60-70 hour weeks were the norm. The team I was on owned a very high profile though and others didn't seem to have this problem. I suspect that this was a perfect storm of my own tendency toward working a lot, a manager that always wanted more, and the company culture -- maybe if you are a bit better at separating work and life or the team you're interviewing with is a bit more slack you won't have the same burn out I did. Just a note: I lived across the lake which meant an additional 1.5 hours each day on the bus. While it is more expensive in the city it's probably worth it in the end. After Amazon was done with me those hours on the bus were pretty valuable.