Amazon Software Development Engineer (SDE2) reviews

The work environment is unpleasant. There are tons of developers crammed into large open spaces. The buildings are completely devoid of personality. There are rows of developers sitting or standing at door desks. It is a very noisy place to try and get work done. You will be constantly interrupted by people pagers going off, cell phones ringing, people talking and gathering around and dogs barking. There are lines to use the bathrooms. The company is so frugal that they won't replace the paper in the towel dispensers when they run out until the next day. Other reviews like to say that your co-workers are smart. No one is stupid, but the caliber of employee is not at the level of other more attractive companies or startups. Most of the longer term employees are H1B visa holders who are trapped at Amazon. As soon as they get a green card, they bail. You will experience an amazing amount of attrition. You see co-workers, managers and directors leave frequently. It is rare to meet an employee who has been at Amazon longer then three years. Amazon likes to promote their tenets, but they mostly aren't followed. There is tons of technical debt and no one can really "take ownership" and solve any major issue. Amazon continue to succeed in spite of massive employee churn, but the company is running out of places to recruit new employees. The organization of the companys divisions are illogical and VPs and Directors protect their empires at the expense of employees and correct technical decisions. There is no senior technical staff. Anyone who makes it to a higher level will almost immediately leave to a better company that offers better compensation, work environment and benefits.

- Aggressive back-biting culture - Huge pressure from upper management - Product quality is not important - drowning in tech debt - Not for the faint-hearted - Good employees not rewarded, bad employees not penalized - Too many others to name