Many other reviews have summarized this place well so I will try to describe instances not listed on Glassdoor. TLDR; described by current employees as a "social experiment" "mind games" "toxic" "carrot and stick approach". This department is a “data warehouse” where you are expected to come in, sit down, shut up and hit your quota. They do not care about ANYTHING except SLAs. THIS IS NOT THE COLLABORATIVE, MODERN, PROGRESSIVE AMAZON YOU HAVE IN MIND; this is the Amazon they want to keep quiet. For over a year, I would wake up with extreme anxiety. There were mornings I would have panic attacks and start crying before 9 AM for no reason other than this job made me miserable beyond belief. This job DOES NOT translate well into other positions because there is so little required of you; there is little to no skill development nor career growth here. You are bound by a strict NDA, which further limits what you can disclose on your resume. In terms of growth, I had to BEG for stretch projects that I could work on to develop my skill set and to help me gain visibility within the organization. I was doing everything in my power to find a position internally/externally where I would actually be using my brain and contributing towards real progress. Luckily for me, my mentors at Amazon saw what a struggle it was to get promoted internally and encouraged me to look for positions outside of Amazon- even providing me references. BE AWARE that once you hit Level 3 you will hit a wall and you will be told that to level up any further it is in your hands. It will be up to you to "create a role" that "fills a business need" and then management ~MIGHT~ consider it if you are convincing enough. Your extra efforts and strong skills don’t matter and will not be recognized unless YOU make a role for yourself. Otherwise, if sitting at a computer pressing the same 5-10 keys sounds appealing to you then this is your place. Especially if you enjoy being micromanaged and having your every waking second time tracked. To add insult to injury, at managers DO NOT TRAIN OR WORK IN YOUR WORKFLOW; this means you can never go to your manager with a workflow specific question because THEY DON’T KNOW! Yet your manager will try to provide you with “tips” and “advice’ on how to “do better”- pretty hypocritical coming from someone who has NEVER worked in the workflow. The most discouraging thing about this role is to see the rapid turnover throughout Senior Management and Operations; everyone above you transitions in and out of new projects, roles, and advances their career paths in a few months time, while the rest of the associate population withers away with no opportunity. You will also be expected to fill "stretch roles"- roles meant to be temporary or that seem like an opportunity of redemption before being promoted; it is neither of those things. These "stretch roles" are meant to seem enticing and appetizing as if they are there for vindication. They are actually a trap to get you to do way more for way less. Otherwise, permitted you are hitting production goals you WILL sit idly by doing “queue work” for the rest of your days here
