Pros
+ Company is on an unstoppable growth trajectory. Amazon's business model is incredible, is riding a number of secular trends (ecommerce, cloud, AI), and the stock is a winner. Employees are making more money than expected. + Leadership principles drive a high performance culture that focuses on customers. It feels great to work on products that customers love. + You get to work on very difficult problems with smart people. Once you establish yourself as a high performer, you have a high level of job security and internal mobility. Teams are constantly hiring and building really innovative things and you are encouraged to move around and explore. + Teams tend to be lean and you will be asked to learn a lot quickly. Ownership is highly valued. + Office environment is really desirable. Located in a great downtown Seattle neighborhood, many people walk to work, bring dogs to the office, and restaurants and bars are very accessible. + Amazon veterans tend to be incredibly talented individuals, and other companies realize it. Being successful at Amazon is well respected in the industry.
Cons
- Work/life balance can be a challenge. Work demands are high and teams are often too lean. You have to set your own boundaries. Even with kind managers, overachievers will feel under water. - Frugality as a core value goes overboard. If Amazon doesn't HAVE to give it you, it won't. No perks, no free food or drinks, bad coffee, unsubsidized cafeterias, mediocre hardware for non-technical people. There doesn't seem to be a morale budget and you will have few official team outings. - Compensation policies are not employee friendly: 401k matching is subpar. Once your signing cash bonus is fully vested, your entire compensation will be base salary and stock. Base salary is capped at ~$160k across the company. Stock vests twice a year if you're below a Director, so your compensation is very lumpy. Stock price appreciation is taken into consideration in your total compensation targets (ie if the value of previously offered shares increases, the company will count that as a raise and might not grant you additional stock bonuses, despite strong performance).