Amazon Senior Software Developer reviews

3.5

65% would recommend to a friend

(679 total reviews)
avatar

Andrew Jassy

45% approve of CEO

67% positive business outlook

Senior Software Developer employees have rated Amazon with 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 679 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Senior Software Developer professionals have a good working experience there. Amazon is rated in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) by Senior Software Developer professionals compared to other employers within the Tecnologías de la información industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

679 reviews
2.0
Mar 6, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company has some amazing engineers and a few good development managers. They'll provide nice new Macs for work as well.

Cons

Impossible to advance with the limited number of grade levels; senior management really doesn't want people to be promoted to any of them. Very high turnover of SDEs. Give serious consideration to not working here if you are mid-career.

2.0
Oct 19, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Opportunity to learn how to develop software that is Web Scale.

Cons

Company rewards narcissism over hard work. Encourages people to share the bad about their fellow employees. Management makes most promotion decisions based on heresy rather than direct observation and knowledge. Beware of bonuses offered by Amazon. If you leave before the vesting period you could end up owing Amazon more than you actually received. Example suppose you receive 30K in signing bonuses and relocation expenses, and you decide to leave or are let go before your 24 months is up. Amazon pre-deducts the taxes for your bonuses up front, so you may only actually get a check for 20K and the other 10K goes to the government. If you leave after the tax cycle ends, then Amazon will want back their full 30K and you will have to figure out how to get the rest back from the IRS on your own. Also, even if you pay them the full 30K there is a very high degree of possibility that they will not send you an updated W2 and will hope you just let them keep the 10K tax free. BTW the full 30K would be due and payable within 30 days of termination. They don't call it claw-back for nothing

3.0
Jul 21, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fast paced. Giving employees a fair amount of stock-based compensation. The company is still growing in general. I do like its "Just Do It" culture.

Cons

Not for real technology-centric engineers, unless you work in AWS space. Highly likely, you will be doubled up as a tech support as well. You need to deal with quite a bit of pager duties.

Viewing 667 - 669 of 679 Reviews

Glassdoor has 250,556 Amazon reviews submitted anonymously by Amazon employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Amazon is right for you.