Why It's So Difficult to Climb Amazon's Corporate Ladder

Whenever I read one of these articles, I wonder which medium to large size companies actually are good places to work. This is from a "startup type person perspective" -- i.e. largely defined by work or career, even if you don't want the financial risk of a startup. Lots of places are fine if it's just a job.

Apple seems like it could be awesome if you're on the right time, and horrible otherwise, which is about the best I've seen of anywhere.

By definition, any job where you're not revenue generating and in the main (and especially main and growing) line of business also sucks. I guess there are limited exceptions when it is clear a new product could become the main line of business, and you're early in it.

Amazon, Microsoft, Intel seem painful at best, and Google seems like it had a rough few years with a mass culling of less important products.

On the other hand, even the most pathological organizations (government!) can be ok as a consultant, if you're on an important enough assignment and have buy-in at the right levels. If nothing else, it's an amazing opportunity for comparative anthropology.