Great people and great opportunities to learn so far
Pros
- Lots of room to grow your career and get guidance from talented people. - Amazon's scale means that you can usually find help for any problem you're having -- if it's happening to you, odds are someone else has already worked through it. - SDE's are given a lot of trust and freedom from day one. This can be intimidating at first, but it helps you grow and feel a sense of ownership in your work. - Virtually everything (in my experience) is well thought through and automated where possible. Lots of internal tools to save time and frustration. - A genuine emphasis on learning and growing. Every company says it, but Amazon really gives you the resources to explore your interests and the company. - The compensation.
Cons
I read a lot of horror stories about Amazon while I was going through the application process, but my experience--emphasis on "my experience"; I can't speak for the whole organization--has been very different from them so far: my team has been very friendly, I haven't felt any tugs of competition or politics, and although a lot is expected of you, it isn't an unreasonable amount. I'm sure that this depends heavily on your manager and director, as well as the service you're working on, but I can say that the company isn't universally cutthroat and ultra-high stress all the time. Yes, you're expected to work hard and produce high quality results, and the feedback you get probably won't be sugarcoated if you fall short of that. But if you're willing to put in the time and effort, you'll do just fine.
