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It's a job where very few people stay more than a few years

Software Development Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at Amazon for less than 1 year
June 22, 2008
2.0
Doesn't RecommendApproves of CEO
Pros

You can learn a lot in a short amount of time.

Cons

It feels like you are doing time in order to launch your career. The work is boring for the most part. The challenging problems you work on have more to do with sloppy design, lazy programming, and horrible planning, than anything remotely interesting (from a computer science perspective).

Amazon tries to preach this idea that you are working with the smartest people that you'll ever work with. This has been far from the case so far. Yes, there are some people there that are really brilliant, but those people really stick out since they are so rare. For the most part, the developers are solid, although they tend to be sloppy and careless. And there are some developers that actively try to avoid responsibility, make things difficult for others, or are openly hostile to people around them. Unfortunately, I've seen quite a few of these types while being there.

Advice to Management

Keep it up. For the most part, Senior Management is doing pretty well. Hopefully, they will be strong enough to be consistently respectful, as well as hold people to high standards. If this happens, I think that things might have a chance to improve.

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