Pros
1) My onboarding plan was quite comprehensive. My manager anticipated my onboarding training needs very well. Received support from colleagues and experienced Amazonians 2) Amazon's writing culture helps gain clarity and maintain intellectual rigor 3) Amazon has invested into leadership principles, peculiar culture and mechanism for high performance teams 4) Work is intense! I was provided a challenging assignment in terms of managing a large program. 5) Teams are extremely goal driven, nimble and work smart
Cons
1)Due to a large number of teams and collaborators, it took me a while to mind map my part of the Amazon Universe which is mindbogglingly large 2) It does take time and effort investment to understand and adapt to Amazon's peculiar culture. I can certainly see why it's important to do so. Once fully adapted, I can see how this would help me but there's definitely a ramp up period (I feel like I'm still learning although I have been making a concerted effort for 3 months :)) 3) There are a number of systems to get used to from the onboarding system, to Employee portal to Corporate systems, multiple training systems and websites/WIKIs. There are several central systems/sites but it seems hard to construct a single pane of glass view of your world within Amazon.