Amazon

I met and worked with some very smart people. I was able to learn some cutting-edge technology. Salary was decent.

Advice for new hires: Negotiate as much salary, hiring bonus, and stock as you can before accepting an offer. You will not get much for your yearly raise.

Dev Managers rule the company. Their decisions will trump other people's feedback. The company promotes those that are technically gifted but then provides no support to make them good people managers. Raises were small (less than cost of living) no matter how you performed in your review. You will work 60-80 hours a week. Work environment is extremely fast-paced, and you will have to deal with "fires" daily. There are very little work perks or benefits. Amazon knows people don't typically make it four years with the company, so the bulk of your stock payout will occur during years 3 and 4. In the department I was in, manager retention was low. It was not uncommon to have multiple managers in a year.

Start looking at your employees as long-term assets.

Provide training for managers so that they can manage people properly.

Get rid of the forced distribution stack ranking for yearly reviews – it's demoralizing.