Pros
This review is about the extended PC or Personal Computers team and holds true most of Consumer Electronics (not just Personal Computers (PC), Components, Peripherals, Accessories, Input Devices). This review will also help someone in Inventory Management or Instock Manager function as they work close to vendor managers). Core Business Experience - In a vendor management function, you get a business experience where you are buying and selling stuff like someone who is running his own store. Agreed that this is not glamorous and you do just one type of transaction 100 times over, it is still a business role and not an advisory/consulting role Experience in Challenging Category - Personal Computers and Consumer Electronics as such is a tough category where products come in and phase out in very short cycles and are often unprofitable. So you will experience high pressure given that this category has a high topline impact and often adverse bottomline impact. So you can get several years of experience in a few years. (On the flip side, expect to work at least 60-70 hours a week during off peak times and 80ish during Q4)
Cons
Culture and Leadership - Amazon has a culture of treating its employees poorly but that is well documented in this forum. The culture of the PC team is probably the worst in Amazon. It is extremely political and the leadership team treats the mid-lower level (esp the Level 6) with utter disrespect. One is made to feel extremely dispensable and people are publically humiliated in meetings. All blame is passed on to Level 6 while credit is readily accepted by Levels 7 and 8. Advice- Get thick-skinned if you want to survive here and get ready to be thrown under the bus. Growth (Level and Salary) - Once you are in, expect no growth in your salary. At best, you will get 1-2% hike year on year. The only consolation will be that the average hike is less than 1% so you are doing ok. More importantly though, you will not see path to becoming a level 7. There is no such thing as promoting from within in the extended PC team. All the former and current level 7s and 8s have been brought in directly at that level from outside - Amex, Sears, P&G, GE, McMaster Carr etc. You can forget about getting to the next level here. Advice - Negotiate really hard for the best salary and position in terms of direct reports. Once you are here, you are stuck with what you have negotiated. All promises of getting to level 7 or getting direct reports are a way to get you in. Once in, you will be where you are. If you feel that you are not fully happy with the offer, just walk away. Do not join hoping that things will improve, else you will be miserable. Churn - People come and go like seasons. People with 1 year experience are now veterans in the team. With the churn comes the fact that you have to do the work of the people who have left (with no additional reward or recognition or even a small acknowledgement). Roles are not backfilled soon because NO ONE internally wants to join the PC team. So you will be burdened with the additional tasks for a few quarters before you can get even a part of your life back. Tip - Nothing you can do to avoid this, except maybe avoid the PC team all together. If you join, FORGET about Work Life Balance as long as you are there.