Amazon is a value extraction machine, nothing more - Software Development Engineer Amazon Employee Review

1.0
Dec 12, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

My immediate teammates were genuine and caring people who supported each other through some pretty harsh times. The leadership principles are actually pretty well thought out.

Cons

My team was handed a failing product created by a former team that rushed to ship and quit as soon as they got promoted. We were treated monstrously by leadership who quite literally yelled at us in closed rooms for being unable to save the failing product. Hours were long, sometimes 12-14 hours a day. Operational post-mortems were used as punitive threats instead of genuine opportunities for improvement. Oncall weeks often reached 10-20 pages a day. Multiple company-internal tech debt management consultants were brought in to help but gave up after no impact was made. High SDM turnover meant that nobody was available to advocate for the engineers, nobody got promoted, and tribal knowledge was lost. I could not have had a worse experience. Recruiters email me every few weeks asking if I'll come back. Obviously other teams are different, but the potential reward is not worth the risk. If you can get a job at Amazon, you can get a job elsewhere where you will be treated better.

Explore other reviews about Amazon

5.0
Jul 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good benefits work culture and salary,

Cons

okay team mates, boss was horrible

5.0
Jan 10, 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Really smart people, a lot of opportunity for growth, always encouraged to be innovative, think big, and create something new. Competitive salary and benefits with other major tech companies. 100% self motivating work environment. No dress code and 4 legged friends are welcome.

Cons

You have to be self motivated. NO ONE will hold your hand and tell you that you're doing a great job. If you need constant affirmations from management, this company isn't for you.

3159
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All