Amazon

This is only my second job as a software engineer out of college (the first one being only a 2-month experience), so I do not know what is the norm, nor how to compare my experience, but I will say things honestly as I think them.

Working with people has been great. I work on a small team of 5-6 people. My manager is very helpful and flexible. Asking him and other team members questions has been a good experience so far.

The working hours for me have been, on average, more than 8, but that was to keep up with the onboarding workload. As time passes, it feels more like 8 hours exact.

What I like is that everything is mostly very polished. Amazon does a good job with all their internal interfaces and content. This makes it easier and more enjoyable to work here compared to a previous company I worked for.

They have a very good energy and culture here. If you are a positive, optimistic, and ambitious person, this is a great company for you. They have many values and principles that are used and talked about over and over.

The work-life balance is OK. Later on, I will have to be on call over the weekend about once a month, but for the most part, I am able to have a balanced 8-hour workday and then switch off of work mode. Currently, our team is working 3 days in the office and 2 remotely, so this makes the work-life balance slightly better.

They seem to be very committed to diversity and inclusion. I am a Hispanic hire.

The compensation and benefits are very good in my opinion. The work laptop they gave me is high-end, and they let me pick between Windows and Mac. I started with Windows and switched to a Mac as it seemed most of my team used a Mac, and I was having small issues with Windows.

Though it's not that I severely dislike my role, I somewhat feel like I was thrown into an arbitrary role that isn't my most desired type of work. I wish I could have had an option.

I only get around 3 weeks of paid time off/vacation during the first year, so it is a struggle to switch from being a student with many weeks off to only about 3.

Many, if not all, engineers are expected to be on call sometimes (about one week and weekend a month I believe), so this lowers the work-life balance a little bit.

I wish I had the freedom to work remotely year-round. Currently, they do allow employees to work remotely for 4 weeks per year, with approval. Also, working remotely is mostly restricted to within the country, and I wish that I was able to work anywhere.

One disadvantage for me is that my team operates off of EST, so a 9 AM start time for them means an 8 AM start time for me while working from home (I live in Texas). This is temporary, however. So pick your office location carefully if they offer you options and if you plan to work from home at all.