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Good in Small Doses; Your Team Matters a LOT

Software Engineer II
Former Employee
Worked at Amazon for 4 years
February 1, 2024
Seattle, Washington
3.0
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookDoesn't Approve of CEO
Pros

Good pay and benefits. Talented coworkers. Lots of in-house skill development resources for those sufficiently motivated.

Cons

Terrible crunch culture and arcane politics from upper management can often lead to poor work-life balance and perpetual crunch within certain orgs. These issues only get worse as high-value contributors slowly start showing signs of burnout.

Advice to Management

Stop throwing individual contributors under the bus for clear organizational/upper management failures.

The company is constantly hemorrhaging talented people because there's a furious demand for deliverables above ALL else (why even bother with the other 13 leadership principles?) and calls for sacrificial lambs any time they don't land.

Give lower-level managers a smaller number of direct reports, and it will open clearer lines for communication from ICs up to Upper Management, instead of expectations constantly being mis-calibrated and leading to a constant cycle of disappointment and retribution.

Also: fix the PIP/Pivot system. There's WAY too much room for outright abusive behavior at multiple points in the process, and both the selection and evaluation process for pivot projects seem driven less by the actual high-level BUSINESS needs and more by the political needs of the managers within the org.

Additional Ratings

Work/Life Balance
3.0
Culture and Values
2.0
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
2.0
Career Opportunities
4.0
Compensation and Benefits
5.0
Senior Management
2.0

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