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Super Toxic Culture

Engineer
Former Employee
Worked at Amazon for less than 1 year
August 23, 2021
Seattle, Washington
1.0
Pros

Lots of learning opportunities.

Good thing is, it has challenges from multiple domains, even though it's e-commerce, unlike product-based comparable FAANGs which are uni-dimensional.

Cons
  1. Culture of pulling each other down through anonymous feedback.

  2. Contradictory leadership principles. For example, if a person is good at deep dives, it comes at the cost of time, but then they will pull you down with "Deliver results."

  3. Stingy – Minimum fringe benefits. No lunch, breakfast, or snacks provided.

  4. Promotions by arrangements. Two managers will have an exchange agreement to support each other's reporting individuals for their promotion feedback.

  5. Bonus for stellar performance is by way of stocks that vest over multiple years. So, if you do good work this year, you will realize your hard work after many years, and if you decide to leave, your reward is history.

  6. There is no concept of work-life balance; rather, their ex-CEO coined the term "work-life harmony." (Google it up if you want to verify.)

Advice to Management

For you, everything starts with the customer and working backward.

But there are many companies where everything starts with employees and trusting them to take care of the company's customers. The good thing with this is, you will stay a pleasant place for people who have spent a part of their life there.

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