Amazon Technical; Al Program Manager reviews

You have a lot of ownership over your work. There is a lot of freedom to set your own goal and exercise best judgments. There usually is not a lot of micromanaging going on at the company. You are usually given a general goal or a vague set of problems, and you are expected to exercise best judgment to resolve and/or achieve them. Additionally, there are a lot of smart people at Amazon, and there are some great technologists here to learn from as well. Amazon is basically like a 10+ years-old and multi-billion dollar start-up, with all the good and bad that implies.

Amazon.com is an amazing place to learn. The decentralized, self-starter atmosphere strongly supports and encourages people who are motivated to try new things. In just months of being here, you'll end up having responsibilities that most companies wouldn't hand off from the legions of middle management for years. You're able to touch every aspect of the business, from the actual business side (TCO, business justifications, cost/benefit analysis, etc), to the deeply technical side (even all the way to choosing whatever technology, language, and platform you like). Every role has a huge amount of autonomy and responsibility. Additionally, there are no middle-management drones here. Every person I've met here is top-notch; blisteringly intelligent and an extremely valuable asset to the company. Like most companies, there are some folks who might do better in other roles... but I've been overwhelmed by just how GOOD these people are. Coming from a different company where a lot of people just "coast", this is a nice, refreshing change.