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Good Opportunities and Problem Space - Leadership & Management is a Crap Shoot

Software Development Engineer (SDE) II
Current Employee
Has worked at Amazon for 6 years
July 15, 2022
Seattle, Washington
3.0
Neutral OutlookDoesn't Approve of CEO
Pros

Good opportunities to work on various stacks and problem spaces.

Usually good engineer peers to work with and learn from.

Pay is actually pretty amazing if you're a new hire (2022 Q1 and onwards) - insulting if you're pre-TC bump.

Can "own" as much as you push for, usually.

Cons

Leadership and management is usually a crap shoot. Decent managers are rare and usually are day 2+ mentality coasters and incompetent. Promotions at Amazon are advertised as you "own" it, but in reality, they depend entirely on your manager giving a damn and batting for you.

Tech stacks on most retail teams are uninspiring, and pushing for new approaches is somewhat of an uphill battle.

Advice to Management

Start aggressively pip-ing SDMs. Too many SDMs are complacent and incompetent at their jobs, which in turn breeds more mediocrity and pushes away valuable talent.

Additional Ratings

Work/Life Balance
2.0
Culture and Values
2.0
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
3.0
Career Opportunities
3.0
Compensation and Benefits
3.0
Senior Management
1.0

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Amazon Interview Experiences