Faceless cogs in a relentless machine
Pros
- Working at Amazon is a great opportunity to work with the industry leader in several areas, and get an inside view into how things are done at that kind of scale. - Lots of very smart people work here, and if you play your cards right it's an excellent opportunity to develop your skills.
Cons
The culture at Amazon is abhorrent. Everything is in service of the bottom line. "Frugality" is literally one of the core tenants of the company, and it's used to justify everything, from the fact that you have to provide a doctor's note to get an ergonomic desk, to the fact that the benefits and holidays are extremely weak. The latest fiasco is that Amazon is actually violating OSHA requirements for the number of available bathrooms because our office space is so insanely overpopulated. All inquiries into the matter are ignored. Amazon doesn't even pretend to care about its employees. The company will chew you up and spit you out to be replaced by the next college graduate to go through the wringer. Essentially everyone in the company is in an oncall rotation, and be prepared to be oncall even when you're not "oncall" if you've become one of the more senior member on the team due to Amazon's legendary attrition rates. Amazon is a decent place to develop your skills, but almost every group is a fast track to being burned out and run ragged by management.
