Pros: The retail space is very complex, with many organizations. Each organization consists of tens of teams. For most teams, they work with tens of teams that are either downstream or their clients. This forces you to deal with complexity that's hard to replicate in other companies. Even though there are some standard tools that are used, the architecture, specific tech, and processes are all up to each individual team to decide. This causes inconsistencies across the system, leading to complexity.

Cons: Sometimes there's politics at play. Not all systems are designed with sound tech design due to this politics. It's getting worse as the company grows and main values are not adhered to. Since each team has a lot of control over its destiny, this also means that you might need to play other people's games to get better. Sometimes you are so busy that you don't know what games people are playing.

Pros: Great projects and interesting problems to solve at scale. Good pay, not in comparison with others like Google, FB, etc., but it is still good. All the teams I worked with are generally great. Flexible working conditions in terms of work times, etc. Importance to innovation rather than just following what was working before. Easy for employees to move around teams. Very practical leadership skills to make anyone successful.

Cons: Tough to get promoted; need to work with a lot of people in and out of the project. Ourselves heavy on-call load in some teams. Too many re-orgs and changes in priorities. Recent layoffs induced stress, less flexibility in the return-to-office mandate, and cost-cutting measures like increased parking costs and removal of free parking for vanpool, etc. For the first time in my career, my total compensation dropped by 20% due to a drop in stock price, and it feels like Amazon adjusted total compensation to be in line with the drop. My projected compensation last year was 348K; this year, projected compensation is 280K based on my hike letters both years.

Pros: Then have good salary and some good teams.

Cons: Sometimes it can be pretty hectic.