Pros
Data driven, lots of development, chance to innovation, smart people, high hiring bar, rewards the achievers, cool technology, freedom to write code, management buys into logical arguments, good compensation, very little politics, no glass ceiling, frugal, ability to switch teams easily (still requires interviews), intense customer focus, and passionate people. SDEs are the bread and butter of this company, nothing moves unless SDEs make it happen. Management structure is thin, but hit or miss, but when they hit, its usually a homerun and you wonder why they decided to work at Amazon and aren't running their own startup. SDE are given very direct access to upper management, Directors, VP and sometimes the senior VP. Management structure is flat, makes it easy for superstars to stand out. Good work is recognized and rewarded. Average and below average engineers see little monetary increases in salary; very much a meritocracy.
Cons
long hours, company takes too much time to learn from mistakes (but usually the mistake is immediately quantified and the fix justified in terms of cost or opportunity cost), little work-life balance, benefits are low, 401k match is on the low side for a fortune 500 company, many people have pointless dead-end jobs in pockets of the company, often pass on good candidates during interviews, interviews focus on wrong things. They build heroes and superstar SDEs, others are support staff. Stress level is extremely high during Thanksgiving->Christmas. Too much focus on stock grants and not enough on base salary, but when stock is doing well who can really complain? Sometimes way too frugal, expensing team lunches or outings for team building is a contentious topic. Average engineers may see very little monetary benefits. Bad engineers and underachievers take up too much headcount. Not very family friendly, long work hours + virtual freeze on vacations during the period from Thanksgiving -> Christmas.
