Amazon

You can have the opportunity to work on pretty cool stuff, given the scale at which Amazon operates.

Although not at all teams, if you join a core platform team, you'll be exposed to really scalable tech architectures. This is great to learn from as an entry-level engineer.

I've worked on about 4 teams at Amazon.

All the teams I have worked in, including my current one, have overworked me, burnt me out, and overworked me some more.

My managers have been unsupportive throughout; most of them are dealing with even worse pressure from their own managers.

It's very common to be asked to work after hours or on weekends, without so much as a thank you, let alone additional compensation.

When asked to be compensated for it, they say, "Sometimes you have to help out as an owner."

The company's 'Leadership Principles' are used as an excuse by managers to skirt any legal issues that may come up, by using them as documentation points for how the employee is 'not performing'.

It's telling that the principles themselves contradict each other, which is clear proof that no employee can actually display all at any given time.

So there will always be at least a subset which someone is not displaying, helping managers justify incessant firing.

Firing is also used as a subtextual threat by managers very often to get work completed after hours.

There is almost no time given to upskilling, unless the project demands it, in which case you are expected to already have cutting-edge skills without the company having to train you.

Documentation is always stale.

Work-life balance is a myth.

The only reason to stay is if someone cannot quit, e.g., if their work visa depends on staying employed.

Most employees that stay long enough stay because of visa issues.

I would not recommend anyone joining this company until employee experience improves.

Listen to feedback from your employees. Have mechanisms that enforce feedback collection for all managers. A lot of managers pretend that the team is going well because they never ask for any feedback, and shut down anyone who steps up to provide it.

There should always be feedback available for improvement; its absence is a red flag in itself.