Amazon

We are a software company that happens to be really good at retail and cloud hosting. That makes Amazon an exciting place for technologists. I very much enjoy the tangibility and impact my software has for customers. I can go home and tell my family, "I own that. That part of Amazon that you use all the time; I did that."

Amazon can be an intense workplace for people who want to be challenged. Ask anyone who works here, and you will find people who want to invest and tackle big problems.

Frugality. There aren't many cons to Amazon, but our principles for frugality over-extend, for example, to less-than-state-of-the-art development hardware. I agree we should not fly first class, and I think free food is overrated (I have a hard enough time staying healthy). Frugality, however, should not encroach on a core competency like engineers' development resources.

Keep at it.

Nudge a tiny bit on the authentic recognition you have for the substantial effort we all are putting in to make this company successful. That said, everything else is just as it should be. Keep us going.