Pros
The pros to working at Amazon Web Services are that you: * Feel like you can make a difference for customers * OWN your deliverables and are encouraged to question whether a feature is best for the customer * Work with brilliant, driven, customer-centric people * Have the ability to work from home regularly * Generally work about 40-45 hours/week, even on salary (some exceptions, like re:Invent) * Pay is good, but time off is below the industry average * Stock has done very well, so stock bonues are great * Will get lots of help because EVERYONE is willing to lend a hand, as long as you're doing the best thing for the customer * Should have a good mentor to guide you in your new position * End-of-year review process is now transparent NOTES: Ignore the older comments about the stack ranking. That ended in 2016. Also ignore the "C-list" review. We are constantly raising the bar with our hiring processes. At best, that person had a terrible manager. At worst, they're just lying. And the people blaming Bezos for their personal failures are just unable to take responsiblity for their own careers. Bezos has little to no effect on most of our jobs. It's your manager and their manager that matter most.
Cons
* You don't have a cubical. You have a desk and a rolling cart with a dozen other people in a cubical. Invest in some good headphones. * Seattle is expensive and the locals hate Amazon for driving up rent prices * Sales tax is 10.9% * Commute is terrible if you live outside of downtown or SLU. The city raised sales tax to pay for more buses a couple of years ago, and are now cutting routes. Amazon does buy a monthly bus pass for all employees. * Benefits: Below-average time off, only 6 holidays, 10% Amazon.com discount is capped at $100, which is now less than a Prime membership, and the 401k match is 50% up to 2% of your income. * Be ready to learn new internal tools and processes, and be flexible when they change. * Your experience is directly related to your management team. So pay attention when you interview. Choose a position with a great manager and coworkers. * You need to be intelligent, ambitious, and hard-working. You won't last long if you just do the bare minimum. * The workload ebbs and flows and it's up to you to stay ahead of it so that you're not rushing at the last minute before a release. Though sometimes, there's nothing you can do (re:Invent). I can't stress enough how important your manager is.