Political, disorganized, stingy - Software Development Engineer-II Amazon Employee Review

2.0
24 Jun 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Working from home is largely a non-issue (mostly; there are no clear rules). Get rated based on results not time spent on desk (but these results might force you to perform overtime). Internal transfer are easy (unless a manager prevents you from it). Work with mostly smart and funny people.

Cons

I have to preface this with saying that Amazon culture can apparently vary wildly depending on the team and org. I've only worked in one team two orgs myself. That being said, I think there are some things you might find to be fairly consistent across Amazon. It's a Java shop with enormous legacy baggage, and mostly lacking in will and competency to change that. Yes, there are teams with a heavy emphasis on Go or Python, but once you go off the Java path you will find yourself having issues. With co-workers who are afraid of using other stuff and with existing infrastructure catering largely to Java devs. It's IMHO a legacy language, and people who are good at using it also IME usually come with a legacy mindset. It's stingy. They call it frugal. It means it's up to you how to explain to your friends that you don't get a free or even discounted Prime subscription as a full-time employee. It's also up to you to figure out how to cut down your server pool even further every couple of weeks to save on operational costs. Amazon is famous for having an abysmal perk philosophy. Which would be great if you would instead get more salary compared to other big IT companies, but you don't. It's political. Annoy the wrong senior manager and you're good to go on your path out. Managers have the means to control your career and well-being at the job. If you're a good little member of the sweatshop who doesn't voice their opinion you're probably good (although you still might find your promotion hard to achieve after 6 years on the job as an SDE2). It's hypocritical. Leadership Principles sound awesome, but they get abused like there's no tomorrow. Like "being a leader" means to do overtime when required, not being able to have a say in things. Or "make decisions based on data" is fine if you're supposed to justify your decisions, but when you're about to get fired data matters little.

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5.0
16 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

Its great so great !

Cons

No cons great job !

5.0
10 Jan 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Really smart people, a lot of opportunity for growth, always encouraged to be innovative, think big, and create something new. Competitive salary and benefits with other major tech companies. 100% self motivating work environment. No dress code and 4 legged friends are welcome.

Cons

You have to be self motivated. NO ONE will hold your hand and tell you that you're doing a great job. If you need constant affirmations from management, this company isn't for you.

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