#TechIndustryInsights: What is the software engineering experience like at Amazon? Is it as draining as at IBM?
##Amazon Software Engineering Environment
###What’s the atmosphere like in the software dev trenches at Amazon?
– How does Amazon’s work culture compare to IBM’s?
– Is the workload manageable?
– What are the growth opportunities?
###Employee Satisfaction and Well-being
– Do employees feel supported and valued?
– Is there a good work-life balance at Amazon?
– How do engineers feel about their job satisfaction?
##Conclusion
Overall, what is the prevailing sentiment among software engineers at Amazon compared to IBM?
A friend of mine lasted 6 months and almost had a nervous breakdown, or did. I forget which. Abusive would be a good word. On call for bullshit.
I’ve been at Amazon for over 10 years and really only worked at a couple startups in college. So take that for what that is. (TL;DR it’s a minefield)
I’ve worked at multiple teams in AWS and retail and the company has definitely changed a lot in the last 10 years. I think the “startup culture” that was already pretty much dead when I joined has been exhumed and desecrated enough times that I don’t even think there is any unique culture to speak of.
Really what you see here now is sort of weird islands of other company’s cultures stood up as bastions within the larger company. Some teams have leadership that wants to run their ship like a Microsoft (mostly Azure/AI) shop. That’s the most common sort of enclave you’ll run into here. But you’ll also see weird meta islands where ex-AWS or Alexa leaders will spin up a team in retail (AWS and Alexa have historically operated differently than retail).
Surprisingly to some, the most soul-crushing time I had was in AWS. It was a brand new service even, but the whole thing was just a bad idea. Nobody other than government agencies who wanted to check a compliance box would have wanted to use it. The whole product seemed to have been conceived to help promote a principal engineer but the worst part was that once an AWS service is made it’s very difficult to shut down (particularly because we did manage to get a government agency to use it and I feel so bad they are forced to use such a half-baked product). Luckily the org did realize the mistake and made a couple better products learning from it, but there is literally a skeleton crew having to waste their career potential manning a virtually dead service. I definitely wasted a year there being strung along by poor leadership.
Given my tenure and connections I’ve secured myself a very comfortable position where I now basically work on whatever I want while providing technical guidance to a bunch of senior SDEs. I know for a fact not everyone is that lucky and I’d recommend only joining Amazon if you know with high confidence that there are good career progression opportunities (or low-stress coasting if that’s what you’re into). It really helps to know/trust the senior leaders in the org you’re joining but barring that, having contacts that work there who can attest to their experience there. Don’t go in blind.
I don’t work there, but it every hard to get a sense of work culture and environment at big companies. People on good teams don’t post about there experience and people in bad ones can’t wait to post.
As a former AWS SDE, it is super team and org dependent. The culture is quite variable between teams. There are also many teams with 1-2 pages a week, as well as 30 a week.
If you can, try to verify with some engineers and managers about the ops load, scope, and tech stack (if you hear LPT run away asap)
I personally didn’t have a good experience, but I know many engineers who have.
There are good teams and bad teams and everywhere in between.
Layoffs affected Amazon just like everywhere else – but perhaps more so. We are all very aware that the company doesn’t even pretend to give a shit about our wellbeing.
There is a lot of short term thinking, fearfulness, and ass-covering. Roadmaps are fucked, and everyone is understaffed. As an IC this translates to being on the hook for even more.
Pay has flatlined (depending on how you view RSUs) and folks want out – but realistically, where are we going to go?
If you’re the type of person who is ok with obeying product at any cost (tech debt? never heard of her!) and don’t mind trampling anyone around you to prove yourself to them, you’ll do well in the current climate.
It really depends heavily on the org and team. I I started at Amazon in fall of 2022 as an SDE3. My org is pretty chill and it’s been head and shoulders better than the startup I was working at prior. My workload is lower, stress is lower, and the pay and benefits are worlds better. We also haven’t been hit by any layoffs.
I am well aware that my experience does not track with the “normal” Amazon experience, but I for one have been super happy to be working here.
Pretty chill ngl
Last time I heard of a SWE working at Amazon, it was them exposing a HR saying how they actually view workers as less than huamn
So I’ll be avoiding them for now
You get fired in 6 months
It is team/org specific. I have friends working there as sde ii, and feedbacks I heard weren’t so good. A lot of office politics, credit stealings, and scapegoatings. It seems managers don’t give the slightest damm about the well-being of their subordinates. One of my friends is taking fmla now. However, people with bad experience tend to be louder. Personally, I will consider Amazon only if I’m miserable in my current role or if they offer me a very enticing package.
Soul sucking. The type that left you no energy, or dread your own job.
It is team or organization specific, but a common issue I’ve seen is the culture is to actively not help others. You want help with this app I wrote? Figure it out yourself! In many parts it’s about pushing as many people down below you to ensure you are not on the pip pile.
And their leadership principles is treated like gospel in some areas. You’ll notice helping others is not one of them.
Its a very top down shit culture. Since the layoffs started its been really tense.
There is one skill you definitely pick up here and that is self sufficiency. There isn’t much help and you are thrown into projects/problems constantly that you have little to no context on and are quickly needed to find paths forward.
Amazon pays really well, its a good resume stamp and great work experience early on in your career.
This is if you get decent managers, if you get stuck with a bad one then its hell and useless from the get go.
AWS is definitely more engineering driven in general than retail, less PMs and other job descriptions to deal with.
As an IC, you will design, deliver and be responsible for systems at scale, its definitely good experience if you tend to use native AWS technologies. A lot of senior + principle level engineers are very good.
No, they hire the people without souls already.
Super org dependent. I am finding it pretty chill in terms of wlb and stress. Definitely better than I expected when reading stuff on the internet. But culture is pretty corporate
Completely depends on team and org.
Anybody know how is the Alexa Devices org?
Absolute dog 💩 company and culture
Join and team hop till you feel like you’re somewhere you like. Don’t stay for friendly coworkers. Make sure you join a team that has a PM or product guy if not you will be doing 3 peoples jobs. When picking teams see how much documentation they have. Most teams will have 0 docs other than crappy overly long LLD and HLD’s. Join AWS. before aws was known to be the crazy busy place and everywhere else was chill. Now all the other orgs have been gutted and everyone is extremely busy but they don’t have the organization or talent of AWS.
To many h1b’s, wouldn’t recommend unless you’re a freshie
15 years at Amazon, more than half in AWS. 10 years at Microsoft, and 5 plus in small companies going back into the 80s while in high school. I’ve seen it all at this point.
The answer to your question is it depends. On the team as others have pointed out, but also on what you want from the relationship.
The perfect software company is a myth. They all suck for one reason or another. Crunch, politics, etc. come from human nature when driven by capitalism while working on something with intangible value and an unpredictable nature. You will find the same everywhere. So go where you go with your eyes open.
If you’re looking to learn how to build and operate world class distributed systems because you think they are fascinating, then Amazon is a good option. If you want to learn how software is created at scale, the real sausage making with all the good and bad, then it can be a good choice. What you learn is the value you get for your pain and only you can decide if it is worth it.
If you want to write beautifully crafted code while taking your time to enjoy other parts of your life…. Good luck with making much money but find a nice niche kind customer you can work for as a consultant. That’s the least painful option if you can find the right clients.
As a SDE I in retail I only recommend joining Amazon at the beginning or end of your career.
It’s a very boring job that you keep doing solely for the money I feel like a lot of people are wasting their talents here. They could do so much in any other company but instead they spend time writing documents that no one will read just because is company policy
Its a good first FAANG buy otherwise its terrible. Horrible management who doesnt care about you. Terrible pay raises. OPS loads on some teams is horrible. And by far the worst thing is stack ranking PIP culture. It makes you distrust your teammates and gives everyone this hyperawareness that makes it hard to take risks or do anything that is interesting
The film THX 1138 comes to mind
If you’re desperate, work there. If not, don’t. It varies based on the team but, it’s so wildly radical that you’ll end up being PIP’ed regardless. They attract new grads with pay. They churn with fear. It’s fucked.
What’s your yoe op?
My team is extremely chill, 9-5 work at AWS
Anyone have any info on the batch compute/hpc teams? I’ll be interning there this summer as SDE, super excited, just curious.
Mind me asking how your assesment/interview exp was? Also, did you get the job on your first application or did it take multiple application/ assessments?
Have you watched Schindler’s List? Schindler was having a decent life and career under the Reich. Even Jews working under him were having a decent life.
That’s what I remember when somebody comments the atrocities at Amazon are manager dependent.
It is not. It is in their culture.