Amazon

I made some really good friends.

The work can be interesting and fast-moving.

Understaffed the entire time I was there. People would quit, but no one ever came in to replace them, so we all just got more and more work.

The stress and strain became so bad it spilled over into personal health and family life. I wish I were trying to be dramatic, but if anything, I am putting it mildly. They have their reputation for a reason, and in my experience, it's absolutely true and then some.

Recruiters laugh when their name comes up in the same sentence as work-life balance. There is no need to elaborate further; they understand immediately.

My team's manager appeared to care very little about his team and was only focused on their own career advancement.

Train your managers. I have never had a manager manage "up" more in my life. Myself and my team could not believe our manager would present one face when senior people were around and a completely different one when it was just his team. He was the least "loyal" manager I have ever had by a long stretch.

If you are going to grow like crazy, hire enough people and give competitive offers. I had so many referrals come in, and the ones that made it through would not accept because other firms were paying nearly double. The end result was more understaffing.