More of operational work for SDEs
Pros
1. Exposure to E-commerce business, high scale applications and AWS technology(If most of the things are already built in your team, you may just get awareness of how the systems are working but no real hands on. New systems are mostly developed by senior members of the team) 2. Leadership principles which you can apply at any other workplace.
Cons
1. No work life balance...Heavily stretched work hours even if you are not oncall. It's common for a manager to come to you at 6pm and asking you to complete a task by EOD, 2. Oncall - Need to be on support for a whole week(rotated among team members)..For high severity issues your availability is expected 24x7. You may have to wake up at midnight to check why a host is down. 3.You may spend more time into operations and understanding amazon business. I wonder if 10% of a SDE time really goes into coding/designing.. 4.. Everyone- SDEs/Managers/Ops team have work pressure..Even a coolest manager may yell at you.. 5. Frugality - workplaces are crowded..it's disturbing at times when some SDEs do louder conversation to make whole floor listen about the cool thing they are talking about..Need to open a ticket even to get a water bottle. ..No admin/supporting team for employees..If you had worked at some other company you will find it strange that to get a HR address proof letter you need to prepare it yourself, take a print and go to HR for a signature.. 6. No performance bonus. Also one would not get any additional stock award in the first 2 years.
