Pros
I worked as a Device Associate (QA) in Amazon, Chennai for 3.5 years 1. Environment - It is one such place where people posses an arsenal of skills which is a great motivation to learn. To be precise - 360 Degrees of learning guaranteed. 2. Organization - Anything and everything has a definite structure. Exit point to Entry point, everything is planned already. All I need to do was, follow the map. 3. Outing & Fun - Amazon seriously believes in HAVE FUN. Every quarter there's a short team outing and a compulsory annual outing which is provided by the company. 4. Work - You need to work hard as Amazon always wanted to be ahead of its competitors and it is. Not updating yourself is a doom. 5. Work stations - Your priority of OS platforms to the machine you need is given. Provided, you need your manager's approval. 6. Perks - I was sanctioned an interest free loan for the cause of Chennai Floods. Every year for my level, I get annual bonus. Some random period of time get 500 INR credited to my Amazon account for shopping. 7. Referral Bonus - Hefty sum for your referrals are sure. Minimum 8K to maximum above 1 lakh INR.
Cons
1. Team - 99% of your growth depends on your team. Your peers and managers decide your growth. It is a brutal truth. 2. Developers - Most of the developers would possess a tremendous amount of technical skills. That's why they're developers in the first place. At the same time, most of them (don't read all of them) has a big bloated ego which would never go down. At all. If you're in a QA team, don't even think of arguing, because hands down your manager will not be ready to go in war against a developer not even a single one, I tell you. 3. Sticking to same kind of work - If you stick to the same kind of work, people would be so happy to take new dishes from your plate and you eat the same food again and again. That's a sure fire way to stagnate. Again, manager would never bother to ask you for a new task. 4. Leadership Principle Obsession - There are 14 principles formulated by the organization and the managers are so very obsessed to follow them and expect it in your self review. To me it is stupid. 5. Appraisal - Fall once, and you're done for the year. Better luck next time. You would straight away go to Performance Improvement Phase my friend! Nobody can save you! And people are not there to spare your feelings. They would walk over you to get what they want. Watch out for that! 6. Team Change - 80% of the time you won't be having the same manager throughout the year. They change and change and change. Managers, at least in Chennai, are self-centered people who never bother about your growth. They are brutally chasing their dreams and you occupy a negligible amount of space in a farthest workstation who would be visible only when there's a mind-numbing-mundane task comes on their way. 7. Interview Process - Slowest interview process. Most of the times you would be stranded in the feeling where you're selected or not. Mails come only when you're ready to walk away. So, develop your patience.
