Amazon Software Development Engineer II (SDEII) reviews

1. I see many people saying Amazon uses employees in crazy ways. That's not true at least to me or to any one I know. It really depends on the individual employees to maintain the work-life balance. In my org, no one is forced to work a minimum of certain number of hours. You control your own pace as long as you deliver on time. I probably work overtime (> 8 hours/day) once every few months. I was still able to be promoted to next level in less than two years. 2. Management is really a hit or miss. And this is true to ALL the companies I believe. When you have a healthy management chain up to VP level as I do, your manager, skip level manager care about you as an individual contributor. 3. Minimum politics you have to hear about. At least among the SDEs I know, there's no politics in their work. 4. You are the owner. Instead of having multiple people owning same project like what I've experienced in other tech companies, at Amazon you are the owner of your project. You get all the credits for the good things you've done and no one can take it away from you. You own the COEs when you make mistakes, learn and grow from your mistake is a very healthy way to your growth (and promotion). 5. Trust me, as long as you are capable, Amazon is the place for you to shine. If you are not that solid on your skills, learn in the hard way. You will be very capable and confident even if you decide to try other career opportunities. Amazon is not a good fit for you if you are not capable, not curious on learning. You will feel there's no work-life balance since you cannot deliver.

Salary is good, the company is also good.