Amazon

Many companies have stated values; Amazon truly lives and breathes our Leadership Principles. Motivated colleagues and great management encourage a healthy balance. Decisions at all levels can be questioned (though this can contribute towards feelings of operating in a hostile environment if not done tactfully).

We have a lot of proprietary tooling, which makes transitioning to and from outside industry hard for engineers. This is particularly difficult for more experienced hires, who expect to be productive and have a fair amount of impact soon after starting.

On the upside, most of these have good reason to be the way they are, and it pays to learn and understand them well. Sometimes our frugality can result in questionable decisions; this has become more rare as time goes on.