Amazon.com Reviews

Pros

The only pro I can think of is that the hiring process was very very fast, maybe too fast for me to make an informed decission to work there.

Cons

The list can be so long. hard back breaking work, not easy on the body. the company and management treat you like a slave. more than 1 second late from a break and you get writen up. Written up really? is this Jr. High? Break starts from the time you leave your "station" and it takes 5 minutes to walk to break area. So in a sense your break is only 5 minutes long.

Management has an attitude that they are better than you.

It's a low paying job at only $12.50 an hour and you are rated on how many packages you handle on top of that.

bad company policies for employee's

Advice to Senior Management

Get a clue how to treat people. People are not numbers, we are not machines. Have a little humanity. You are a manager in a wearhouse, get over yourself, you are not that special. maybe do something about company policy as well.

Pros

Opportunity to learn how to develop software that is Web Scale.

Cons

Company rewards narcissism over hard work. Encourages people to share the bad about their fellow employees. Management makes most promotion decisions based on heresy rather than direct observation and knowledge.

Beware of bonuses offered by Amazon. If you leave before the vesting period you could end up owing Amazon more than you actually received. Example suppose you receive 30K in signing bonuses and relocation expenses, and you decide to leave or are let go before your 24 months is up. Amazon pre-deducts the taxes for your bonuses up front, so you may only actually get a check for 20K and the other 10K goes to the government. If you leave after the tax cycle ends, then Amazon will want back their full 30K and you will have to figure out how to get the rest back from the IRS on your own. Also, even if you pay them the full 30K there is a very high degree of possibility that they will not send you an updated W2 and will hope you just let them keep the 10K tax free.

BTW the full 30K would be due and payable within 30 days of termination.

They don't call it claw-back for nothing

Advice to Senior Management

Please stay at Amazon, I don't think I would like you to come to work at my company.

Pros

Amazon is pushing the envelope with new technology especially in the cloud computing and ebook space. Amazon has many interesting projects to take advantage of all the interesting information it has on its user base.

Cons

Amazon can be extremely stressful and political. Personal freedom to get interesting work done has virtually disappeared in the recent past.

Advice to Senior Management

Spend more time listening to your people and find ways to grow them. Don't think linearly about each person's role as many people have interest in trying to contribute to the business in new ways (ex. Engineer moving into Program Management)

Pros

I've been here over 12 years and have had the opportunity to build all kinds of elaborate systems that changed the company. The early days were quite demanding, but the satisfaction was immense. I'm still challenged, but at a sustainable rate.

The growth curve is like few other places. I interviewed an old mentor from HP 5 years after I'd left. I felt he'd atrophied, but the real deal is I'd grown tremendously.

Most jobs (I'm sure there are exceptions) use strong, current technologies. We clear the table and rub two sticks together to make a fire. As the smoke starts to generate, we may notice we've moved a pack of matches- but alas, we know this fire and where the hot spot is. Keep rubbing the sticks together. This is also a competitive advantage, tight integration w/ every other piece of the system.

Cons

It's clearly not for everyone. If you want tenure based promotions, silo org'ed structures, find a job somewhere else, and count the days to retirement. There is a bit of a libertarian angle on many decisions which doesn't bother me. It is getting very large.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop it w/ the top level micro-management. I've only seen two cases of it, but the 2nd one was recent. Three used to be none. Examples would include telling a line manager he must hire someone w/ a college degree. I'd rather hire the best person.

Pros

Amazon can be a fun and interesting place to work. They do not care how you dress and they like cake. They also do some nice things like potluck meals and allow kids in for halloween. They do provide you with good computers and the comfort stuff you need to sit for hours.

Cons

The biggest problem I see is a lack of communication between people and it's hard to tell sometimes who is the boss. They are very security tight, badge in and out and manage your time and breaks to the minute.

Advice to Senior Management

Your recruiters could be more professional and communicate better. There seems to be a lack of accountability but much is made of the bar raiser.

Pros

Great opportunities to implement ideas and to prove yourself. Easy access to resources and people. People are willing to help you be successful.

Cons

You may have to work longer hours than desired at times. The company loses a lot of talent because of work hours. It can be a challenge to keep a family/work balance.

Advice to Senior Management

I was happy and satisfied with management. They always made time for me and helped individually to be successful. I had access to great leaders.

Pros

Highly motivated environment and good culture
Very technology driven and focussed.

Cons

Low work life balance
Lack of appreciation from higher management
At times very imposing

Pros

Fast paced, evolving product lines.

Cons

Inconsistent hiring practices, works on holidays.

Pros

Its one of the leading tech companies and that makes it a fun place to work in although at times you get a little frustated

Cons

Frustation because of lack of career growth as compared to other places. Sometimes there are management issues as well which really pisses one off

Advice to Senior Management

Take care of your employees and make sure that they are actually doing well in terms of their career growth

Pros

Very competent management.
Talented and efficient colleagues.

Cons

Huge operational burden and "oncall" pain in most teams.
Hard to move up.
Difficult to work on big projects from scratch unless yo uare a principle engineer, which is really high up the ladder.

Advice to Senior Management

Think about why Amazon does such a bad job at attracting and retaining senior technical talent.