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Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

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Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#21

Post by mter »

I work under 40 hours a week with no pressure to work more, I get along with my coworkers and look forward to going to work in the morning. I have worked a crunch time that was pretty terrible, but that was a once off. It's been almost 2 years since my last crunch time.

The comp is decent. It doesn't match google/fb but it's better than a non tech company. I have a target of ~170 total comp as an SDE II with just under 4 years of experience out of college. This is my last year of my initial stock grant so my take home is quite a bit over 170.

I've never seen anyone cry at work. Closest was a guy that got pip'd, but he was genuinely struggling. I can/could see glimmers of truth in the NYT article but I've never seen it that bad. That said, I am aware that tech (SDEs in particular) tend to be treated a bit better than everyone else.

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#22

Post by anonazon123 »

No change since the NYT article.

Amazon only changes things when it has to, and only in a lip-service kind of way. There was a flurry of discussion and proposals when the article was published, but it's all died down and we're back to where we were beforehand.

Compensation, culture, and perks are infinitely better at Google, Facebook, Lyft, Uber, etc. All of them start vesting your stock monthly after 1 year, whereas Amazon has a ridiculous vesting schedule (5% after year 1, 15% after year 2, 20% every 6 months thereafter). Not to mention the awful 401k matching, no free food/drinks, terrible drab offices, etc. All in the name of "frugality." Leadership claims that our competitors waste their money on these things, despite all of them being insanely profitable with higher employee happiness and retention.

I'm working on moving to one of the above competitors now. I recommend avoiding Amazon, even if the role you've been offered sounds cool.

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#23

Post by mlazos »

jamdamu wrote: post #7

Amazon has taken steps to prevent abusive behavior from occurring, such as creating a process for engineers to challenge managerial pips and allowing engineers to transfer while on development plans. In my opinion, these steps seem more like treating the symptom than the cause. The overall culture remains the same. Engineers are still treated by management as resources to be allocated, and for me, this is the hardest…

Tbh I don’t agree that this is amazon specific, generally at any big tech co you will feel this way unless you find your way into something more specialized. For instance, I have a friend at G who was on a front-end team for maps for a while but recently switched to work at google brain after collaborating on side projects. He said the difference is night and day for him in terms of self direction and responsibility.

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#24

Post by stevenwoo »

throwaway84742 wrote: post #12
dieterrams wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind if I ask what team(s) you were on at Amazon? Looking to avoid the worst. I’m starting to get the impression, though, that if I want to be happiest as a Big Tech Co. engineer, I really just need to work at Google.

I heard FB is good as well, though I still don’t get why they need so many people to do what they do. Heck, even MS is probably better than Amazon. I delete all Amazon recruiter emails (of which I receive about 2 per week) as soon as they arrive.

You can tell them to stop contacting you and it works.

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#25

Post by erikb »

lazypanda wrote: post #2

depends on team

This is only very small amount of information, though. Of course it depends on the team. I think even at the crappiest of employers you will find a team or two that are not as painful to work with.

And since this platform here allows more than one person to answer a question, it is totally valid to just describe your own, personal, non-objective experience and let the reader make conclusions based on the sum of what they are reading.

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#26

Post by throwaway84742 »

stevenwoo wrote: post #24
throwaway84742 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard FB is good as well, though I still don’t get why they need so many people to do what they do. Heck, even MS is probably better than Amazon. I delete all Amazon recruiter emails (of which I receive about 2 per week) as soon as they arrive.

You can tell them to stop contacting you and it works.

Not in my case. I’ve asked them numerous times to remove my email, it subsides for a while and then comes back at the same rate.

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#27

Post by Cofike »

cm2012 wrote: post #16

The talk here about sticking at a job that makes you cry, when you have in demand skills and can work anywhere, is nuts to me.

Yeah it's insane. I can't tell if the people who say it isn't bad just have good teams or are lying. The fact that there is a chance of crying at work based on your manager is absurd and washes away any good of working at that company.

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#28

Post by stochastic_monk »

mter wrote: post #21

I work under 40 hours a week with no pressure to work more, I get along with my coworkers and look forward to going to work in the morning. I have worked a crunch time that was pretty terrible, but that was a once off. It's been almost 2 years since my last crunch time. The comp is decent. It doesn't match google/fb but it's better than a non tech company. I have a target of ~170 total comp as an SDE II with just und…

What does “pip’d” mean?

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#29

Post by Cofike »

stochastic_monk wrote: post #28
mter wrote: post #21

I work under 40 hours a week with no pressure to work more, I get along with my coworkers and look forward to going to work in the morning. I have worked a crunch time that was pretty terrible, but that was a once off. It's been almost 2 years since my last crunch time. The comp is decent. It doesn't match google/fb but it's better than a non tech company. I have a target of ~170 total comp as an SDE II with just und…

What does “pip’d” mean?

Performance improvement plan. Basically a chance to get your act together before they fire you.

Re: Ask HN: Amazon software engineers, how is the work culture now?

#30

Post by [deleted] »

stochastic_monk wrote: post #28
mter wrote: post #21

I work under 40 hours a week with no pressure to work more, I get along with my coworkers and look forward to going to work in the morning. I have worked a crunch time that was pretty terrible, but that was a once off. It's been almost 2 years since my last crunch time. The comp is decent. It doesn't match google/fb but it's better than a non tech company. I have a target of ~170 total comp as an SDE II with just und…

What does “pip’d” mean?

[deleted]
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