Amazon

Disclaimer: Only a former SDE Intern.

Jeff Bezos and the values he and his "S-team" are preaching are unlike any other. They are not micromanagers by any means. They are trying to teach people to think in the manner that has worked for them. Live by their Leadership Principles, and you WILL succeed.

Really, really insanely smart people.

The work/life balance is really sort of there. Most people only work from 9-5; just those same people are insanely efficient and know what they need to do in those 40 hours. No one is making you work more than that.

You really are allowed to own your projects.

Seems like the promotion process is a lot slower than I initially thought. A lot of the directors and senior management are in those positions because they have either been with the company since 2005 or because Amazon acquired their company.

Not nearly as many perks as in Silicon Valley. FRUGALITY.

I think the problem why many people fail is they are given OWNERSHIP like never before. I did not know how to deal with that much ambiguity of what they ACTUALLY wanted. You need to really learn what your stakeholders want.

Really for a specific type of person.

I believe this company is where it is today because of this "abusive culture". Keep on selling those "Leadership Principles". However, I think managers need to be a little more clear about what they want out of you.