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Amazon Web Services

Part of Amazon

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Propaganda, Gaslighting, and Union Busting - Senior Software Development Engineer Amazon Web Services Employee Review

1.0
Mar 2, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good *initial* pay for Canada, supplemental benefits are slightly above average.

Cons

Leadership is only concerned with the stock price; the "customer" in Customer Obsession is major shareholders. Employees are an expense to be eliminated, and the people buying things (retail, Prime, AWS) are just another resource to be ruthlessly exploited. The Leadership Principals are a bludgeon used against employees, and ignored by senior leaders, but a constant stream of propaganda reminds you that as an employee, you need to follow them at all times. Constant gaslighting about the need for Frugality leads to stupid, short-term decision making, including no raises and severely reduced RSU grants, all while making 10+% YoY profit gains regardless of the overall economy. That doubles profit about every four years, but it's not shared with the people doing the work. "It's always Day 1!" is the biggest lie. This is just another huge, slow, stupid company in decline. It'll take a long time to get there, but Amazon will eventually be as irrelevant as HP or IBM, another victim of the cult of infinite growth. Don't believe the recruiters when they tell you it's "easy" to switch teams here; you go through a full interview loop just to transfer. Promotions are also a joke once you get to L6, everyone above that is a gatekeeper glorying in their past accomplishments.

Explore other reviews about Amazon Web Services

5.0
Jun 22, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Strong engineering culture, competitive pay, great learning opportunities, and excellent internal mobility across teams.

Cons

Work-life balance can be tough, on-call rotations are demanding, and the pace is fast with high expectations.

3.0
Jul 1, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Strong place to be early in your career as it provides valuable training and the brand recognition can create strong future opportunities. - Is great if you’re interested in what you’re doing/selling

Cons

- 5 days in office is not great for work/life balance - If your manager doesn’t like you, good luck! - 401k match is lower than most companies - Base salary compensation is weak compared to other big tech - Leveling/career progression is near impossible due to reorgs leading to a promotion “freeze” - Role can evolve over time in ways that may not align with original job expectations

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