Amazon Web Services reviews

- You are treated as just a number and layoffs are frequent and rampant and they do not look at performance AT ALL. A team member was laid off for performance at 200+ % of goal while a team member at under 70% was kept. - This is a place where they ONLY way to get ahead is nepotism. Good work is not rewarded. You have to play the game with leadership and only get opportunities if you network internally - more than you do with your clients or partners. This may not sound that bad from the outside, but it's a toxic culture unlike any I've ever seen. - Their "customer first" leadership principle is a sham - it's ALWAYS AWS first. - The promotion process is absolutely awful, so you better negotiate well before getting in. You have to write a 9-page document tying back your accomplishments with data to a different leadership principle and have senior people at different levels write on your behalf (aka you write it for them like recommendation letters when applying to colleges). Then it goes before a committee and is reviewed by people who may very well not know you at all. And you will only get a promotion when you have proven that you have been performing the work at the level above you for over a year. It's just another way that AWS saves money by exploiting employees.

At AWS, and Amazon in general, you will at a risk of PIP every six months, regardless of your past performance or contribution. AWS has a blame-game culture. When something doesn't go right, they will find a scape-goat. And if you are at L6 or lower, you can become a target of that blame game easily. Once your manager identifies you as a target, they will start to systematically and deliberately give you written "suggestions" or "feedback" for how you can improve. They will make it sound like this is for your own good, but the ultimate goal is to get rid of you. Over weeks or months, the negative feedback will be cranked up. Your manager will start finding faults at everything you do and will start telling you how you are missing on the (utterly BS) Leadership Principles. One fine day they will email you, giving you a list of tasks to do over the next few weeks. Congratulations -- You are on a "Focus" (your manager won't use this word)! The focus may continue for a few weeks or months. During this time, the written criticism of your work will ramp up. One fine day, your manager will tell you that we need to take the next step in the process - "Pivot". Long story short, this entire process will leave you feeling drained and worthless. In the end the mental agony of going through the Focus-Pivot process makes you wonder if the pay is really worth it all. You will be particularly vulnerable to this process during the first two years. So even if you join AWS, keep your resume updated and keep your options open.