Amazon

1. Working with smart people, 95% of whom are perfectly pleasant to be around.
2. Learning a lot.
3. You will see some groundbreaking solutions developed by your customers before anyone else does.
4. The scale of AWS and the size of Amazon allow you to be part of something that's still new and hasn't been done before.
5. Great for further career development outside AWS, both technically and for soft skills. If you survive here, you survive everywhere.
6. Can-do attitude by the people around you. There is a lot of positivity and enthusiasm towards cloud-based opportunities.
7. You will find an area that will hold your interest considerably, no doubt.
8. Can't speak for others, but I'm paid considerably over the market rate.
9. The culture has pros and cons. One pro is that people are largely unified here behind the company's vision. You will know very quickly if you have a problem with that.

1. Everything you heard about work-life balance is true. People do work long hours and weekends sometimes.

2. The pressure to be a highly productive, exemplary employee is enormous. It isn't enough to simply do core aspects of your job very well; you are expected to come up with innovative ideas, write blog posts, participate in re, and continuously learn. In my team, we are supposed to devote about 20% of our time to personal development and knowledge sharing. That makes the 80% even more intense.

3. Amazon is a weird place; it can be unsettling sometimes. I am lucky that I am in a good, solid team with a really good person as my boss, but Leadership Principles permeate everywhere. I'm okay with it, and I don't mind a strong culture, but the kool-aid crowd still freaks me out a little.

4. Which brings me to my last point: your experience of working for such a demanding employer with such exacting requirements will significantly depend on which team you end up in. The nature of AWS recruitment is that it's a bit of a lottery, too.

I worked at Deadwood Enterprises in the past, so I understand what it is that you are trying to avoid. Most of us are paid well. However, your productivity methods feel a little cruel at times, perhaps just 10% over the top.