Happy new employee
Pros
Two months ago I joined a high-tech team at AWS. It's fairly new; it was started only two and a half years ago. So far, I'm very impressed! - Despite growing to 200 people in a couple years, the culture is strong. The leadership principles that they always go on about are actually used productively, on a daily basis, to maintain focus and resolve conflict. It's the first time I've worked somewhere that the "company values" were more than lip service. This is the most pleasant surprise so far. - I'm happy with the business strategy and organizational structure of my team. - It's nice to be somewhere that has the resources of a big company, and super willing to support and invest in their employees, while still working on a fairly small team within AWS, where there's lots of good and interesting work to tackle. I feel supported by my team, but also expected to pave my own path. - I'm still onboarding, but the workload is very manageable. The expectations are higher than the last large corporation I worked for, which I enjoy; it'll push me to grow. I've been learning _so_ much here. - Everyone is welcoming, kind and respectful -- peers and management. - There are tons of resources to get up to speed with AWS services -- this is a really valuable skill that would translate to other companies as well.
Cons
Despite my own satisfaction at AWS, it's still a subsidiary of Amazon, which has a bad rep as an employer. The impact of the company on small businesses is probably something to think about. Pay is mostly RSUs, though they have increased the base salary limit since I signed. I haven't been impacted by it yet so I can't personally say how that will be. They don't usually have nice office perks (no catered lunch, snacks, gym...) like many tech companies do. Personally I think the pay more than makes up for this, but it would be nice to have something around.
