Amazon

Lots of intelligent engineers and plenty of opportunities for growth internally. Amazon's internal architecture is amazing. The scale at which they operate requires them to be able to move very safely. The service-oriented architecture is a good example for anyone looking to launch a startup. Everything talks to each other through API's only, but those API's are often not well documented.

The company is anti-open-source, though they are getting better. Using open-source technologies isn't that hard. Contributing back up is nearly impossible.

Also, Amazon is the type of company that says, "All your side projects belong to us." Several other interns and I wanted to participate in a hackathon. The conditions to participate were: not do anything involving contracts, only work off Amazon Fire OS, and give Amazon all the rights. Since we unanimously agreed that this was absurd, we couldn't participate.

Also, the perks suck, the pay is average, and the working environment for engineers isn't great.

Don't try to restrict your employees' growth in areas outside your company. Letting your employees participate in hackathons isn't going to kill your products. Open sourcing more of the cool stuff you guys build isn't going to magically turn your competitors into Amazon-killers. Stop freaking out so much, get with the times, and let your employees be more free.

Also, invest more in perks for your engineers. The simmering discontent is definitely there.