Fascinating projects, poor work-life balance - Software Development Engineer-II Amazon Employee Review

3.0
28 May 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Work with top talent. - Work on high-scale, fascinating work. - Good company mobility. Changing teams every year or two is encouraged, giving the opportunity for a lot of diversity of experience if desired.

Cons

Depending on your team and your project, the work-life balance for software developers and software development managers can be very poor (frequent on-call rotations, 50+ hours per week norm, unreasonably demanding management). This varies greatly from team to team. Some teams are excellent at providing a good balance, and others are meat-grinders. It depends so much on your management chain. Can your manager negotiate appropriate boundaries such that other teams do not take advantage of you? Is your manager obsessed with arbitrary delivery dates, and will he or she pressure the team at all costs to meat them? Does your manager know how to put together detailed multi-quarter delivery plans? If the answers are "yes", "no", and "yes", then you should be alright.

Explore other reviews about Amazon

5.0
22 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Decent pay. Great Benefits, Room to promote

Cons

Long hours, day to day can be challenging

5.0
10 Jan 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Really smart people, a lot of opportunity for growth, always encouraged to be innovative, think big, and create something new. Competitive salary and benefits with other major tech companies. 100% self motivating work environment. No dress code and 4 legged friends are welcome.

Cons

You have to be self motivated. NO ONE will hold your hand and tell you that you're doing a great job. If you need constant affirmations from management, this company isn't for you.

3159
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