software engineer

cloud engineer

solution architect

senior software engineer

data center technician

Amazon Web Services

Customer Obsession
Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers.

Ownership
Leaders are owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say “that’s not my job." 

Invent and Simplify
Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify. They are externally aware, look for new ideas from everywhere, and are not limited by “not invented here." Because we do new things, we accept that we may be misunderstood for long periods of time.

Are Right, A Lot
Leaders are right a lot. They have strong judgement and good instincts. They seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs.

Learn and Be Curious
Leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves. They are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them.

Hire and Develop the Best
Leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion. They recognise people with exceptional talent and willingly move them throughout the organisation. Leaders develop leaders and are serious about their role in coaching others. We work on behalf of our people to invent mechanisms for development like Career Choice.

Insist on the Highest Standards
Leaders have relentlessly high standards — many people may think these standards are unreasonably high. Leaders are continually raising the bar and driving their teams to deliver high quality products, services, and processes. Leaders ensure that defects do not get sent down the line and that problems are fixed so they stay fixed.

Think Big
Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Leaders create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results. They think differently and look around corners for ways to serve customers.

Bias for Action
Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk taking. 

Frugality
Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency and invention. There are no extra points for growing headcount, budget size, or fixed expense.

Earn Trust
Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. They are vocally self-critical, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing. Leaders do not believe their or their team’s body odour smells of perfume. They benchmark themselves and their teams against the best.

Dive Deep
Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are sceptical when metrics and anecdote differ. No task is beneath them.

Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit
Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly.

Deliver Results
Leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion. Despite setbacks, they rise to the occasion and never compromise.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The 2-year guarantee that matched my base salary but they got their money’s worth. It probably worked out to minimum wage when you factor in the endless 12-hour work days! Also, employees only earn 5% and then 15% in Year 1 and Year 2 for your Restricted Stock Units. RSUs are back-end loaded and almost no one from the group I joined AWS lasted two years. So they lost 80% of their vest!!! You work with very limited resources, absolutely complex and tedious systems and processes, and no one even stopped to celebrate when we’d completed a project.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I have never worked anywhere where there’s been a more toxic and/or more incompetent, vicious, and greedy group of senior leaders (L6-L10). The structure literally pits people on the same team
against other team members. If you can’t point to a project you originated and advanced to completion, your annual Forte will result in a Needs Improvement rating. That will be followed by being put on Focus. Our team always had someone in Focus. Half of the people who go on Focus don’t make it. It’s stressful watching, talking to, and working with people on Focus. It’s like watching someone drowning right in front of your eyes. And you knew that if they got off of Focus, someone else would have to be put on Focus. This absolutely absurd edict resulted in zero trust, lying for self promotion, cliques and divisions, poor morale, mental and physical
Health issues, destroyed careers. And MASSIVE STRESS!!!!!

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
A hypocritical, political, clique, arrogant bunch of intelligent people who think they are rocket engineers when the vast majority are really just rocket polishers. Spheres is great but it sure does smell like the musty, sweaty boys gym at my high school. Travel is restricted for most to re:Invent and Sales Kick-Offs are virtual. It takes years to even start to figure out how to get anything done. All the Leadership Principles are cited and interpreted differently, applied superficially, and cover up for not getting anything done. You always have to watch your back. The back stabbers and the envious are everywhere! The culture is nasty and negative, even more because every so often you run into someone with a different color badge and they say they’ve been an Amazonian for 10+ years. These people seem different. More Amazonian than the poseurs I worked with who didn’t know the first thing about business but they recited the LPs verbatim. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
9AM until 10PM. Massive projects. Complex
processes, people, systems everywhere. Bad managers reporting to worse directors. Everyone complaining and pointing fingers. Frustrating. Stressful. Sometimes an interesting project or engagement came along and these were great! But the typical day was just out of control.

My time at AWS as a manager has been rewarding but extremely challenging as well. The challenge of the job is in the quantity of tasking and oversight they require of their managers.  Being practical, there is no way you can accomplish everything they would like you to do in a 40 hour work week at a high level. Managers are expected to be heavily involved with the development of their direct reports - meeting with them at least once every two weeks. (This includes night shift folks after hours) The number of direct reports varies from 8-15 for DCEO so this can be difficult if you are on the high end. In addition, you have a many (and I mean many) administrative tasks from conducting routine safety inspections of very large (500,000 sq ft) buildings, to approving invoices, to approving all of the maintenance procedures that occur on a regular basis (in some cases 25-40 complex procedures per week) , to maintaining compliance in 20+ metrics, to reading 100’s of emails and slack messages, to approving access requests, to planning team events, to running program teams, attending tons if meetings, to conducting many interviews….the list goes on and on and on.  Manager time is significantly over budgeted. In addition, managers are subject to direct report survey questions everyday which directly affects a managers performance review. I cannot reiterate enough how frustrating this is if you have a disgruntled employee that doesn't like Amazon. In AWS data centers, the level of planning required to do even simple tasks is truly incredible given the amount of security and operational paranoia that exists here ( this can be good in some ways but is majorly frustrating as you often get blocked). Turnover is extremely high here for various reasons. Most companies I have worked for previously do consistent team lunches or meals, amazon is very sparse in this area despite the high work load. Amazon pays well for just about every position but a large amount of the pay is equity/stock based so that makes employees nervous as there is some risk involved due to market volatility. They hire well and your team is normally pretty great.  This is the best part of the job. 

The Good: 
•	Culture: 	
Excellent fundamental principles based focus (now +2 for 16) allow you to aspire to self goals while respecting, learning from, and assisting teammates and still maintain the customer focus the is often completely missed in a legacy corporate structure. '3 pillars" or "goals this year" internal marketing is absent and replaced by aforementioned principles to love and live by.  

•	Learning: 
If you like educating yourself and advancing your knowledge concerning the various specialties within cloud based environments, How can you get a better knowledge of AWS than to work within the environment daily?  Peer learning and subordinate sharing.   

The Bad:
•	Interview:
As you may have noticed, the interview process is lengthy and arduous.  After initial application and  80 minute knowledge based and behavioral charting  provided by the internal talent sourcing, you attend a 1 hour interview with a higher level “lead” and are screened for knowledge of your applied field, to an in-depth degree, but still fair and common knowledge principles. You will likely be asked multiple “ tell me a time” type examples of your work experience.  After this process begins the (EVEN MORE ARDUOUS) FIVE (yes 5) hour final round interviews with peers, leads, and superiors – with questions running the gambit and breadth of your knowledge/experience/morals and culture fit type fit questions.  Advice: Take some headache medicine prior.

Possible method to fix what I perceive as possibly a tad excessive -  would be to switch the final to 2 hours by a panel of individuals


What is the best part of working at the company?
It's a wonderful experience to work with driven, motivated and intelligent people who foster a positive work environment and take ownership of their work. I've also been impressed by the ongoing improvements and evolution of how people perform tasks and get things done. It's a learning process, and if you're an Amazonian, you'll never stop learning! Amazon loves to provide training opportunities for their employees, allowing people to grow their skill set and career trajectories. It's exciting to be a part of a huge machine. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Things change often, and that includes organizational structure and general procedures. It's sometimes overwhelming trying to keep up with all the changes and improvements. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I found the environment to be very positive, nurturing and fun. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I spend a lot of time figuring out what I'm supposed to be doing! Then I slowly start to get things done, improving as I go along. By the end, I'm cranking. I worked as a contractor in a remote position, so there was a lot of time spent on Slack and Chime (Amazon's version of Slack) communicating and collaborating. There's reliance upon each individual working hard individually, plus coming together as a team. We worked in an agile environment, so we had biweekly meetings regarding our sprints.

Working at Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been a highly rewarding experience. The work culture is incredibly supportive, fostering collaboration and innovation among team members. There is a strong emphasis on flexibility, especially when it comes to taking time off. This allows employees to maintain a healthy work-life balance while ensuring that they can address personal commitments when necessary. Moreover, the opportunity to solve significant problems for customers is both challenging and fulfilling. Being part of a team that is dedicated to delivering top-notch solutions and services to clients adds immense value to the work we do every day.

However, working at AWS does come with its challenges. The management can be quite demanding, which may lead to high expectations and pressure on employees to perform consistently at a high level. Additionally, there are times when management may prioritize political maneuvering over data-driven decision-making. This can sometimes lead to frustrations as it may hinder the effectiveness of the team's efforts to implement solutions based on solid metrics and analysis.

Overall, AWS is a great place to work if you're looking for a dynamic environment where you can make a real impact, but it's essential to be prepared for the demands that come with it.

I've worked here for several years and it used to be a thriving culture with smaller teams that could make decisions and work somewhat independently. Then leadership changed, laid off a third of the employees (which it claimed was random but actually targeted veteran employees with high-value RSUs vesting), and began obsessing over metrics and quotas that are impossible to meet without overworking yourself.

The other architects and consultants are kind, smart, and helpful but everybody is brought down by the greed and distrust of the executive leadership. They have Leadership Principles that they expect you to follow yet the actual leadership ignores all of them in favor of squeezing out as much money as they can from both employees and customers alike.

I can actually point to the exact time this happened, when McKinsey & Co was hired to financially consult AWS  executives in Fall of 2022. Ever since then, every decision the executive leadership has made has been short term stock-price focused at the expense of customers and employees. To add further insult to injury, last year they decided to stop giving annual stock grants as bonuses to employees, so veteran employees no longer even get a piece of the inflated stock price pie.

It's sad to see such a fall from grace for an employer I used to like working for.

The work itself is great. Amazon Web Services is the dominant cloud computing service of the whole world. So, you will get a great visionaries that deploy your code globally within more than 30 to 40 regions. And there are truly some talented people working here. You'll be amazed by the smart people who are willing to put in long hours to solve complex problems.

Also, Amazon Web Services has great routines (it calls them "mechanisms") to ensure good code is delivered at the beginning of the design process. These include decision-making processes and guidelines on how to write code, test it, deploy it, and eventually maintain it. 

Also, the on-call process is the stressful part, but it also gives you a very great experience to focus on some questions you probably never noticed. During the on-call and the problem-solving process, you will have a very comprehensive view of how a very large, complex software system works. 

But the work-life balance is definitely a part that could be improved. I've heard a lot of stories about someone getting paged at midnight or 2:00/3:00 AM if it's their on-call week, and if some large-scale event happens, you'll probably be in a meeting at 9:00 PM or 10:00 PM. It doesn't happen every day, but you should be aware of the situation and prepared when it does. 

Amazon is known for its dynamic, fast-paced work environment, providing abundant opportunities for growth and development. Employees are exposed to cutting-edge technology and innovative processes, which foster a culture of continuous learning. The company’s emphasis on customer obsession drives employees to deliver excellence.

Amazon offers competitive compensation packages, including stock options, which align employees’ incentives with the company’s success. Benefits like healthcare, 401(k) plans, and parental leave further enhance work-life balance. The internal promotion culture provides employees with clear career advancement paths.

Diversity and inclusion initiatives, such as affinity groups and mentorship programs, create a supportive environment. Amazon also encourages entrepreneurial thinking, empowering employees to own projects and make impactful decisions.

The company’s commitment to sustainability and community outreach, including carbon-neutral goals and charitable programs, resonates with employees who seek purpose-driven work. Overall, Amazon provides a robust platform for professional growth, financial security, and contributing to meaningful global initiatives.

Uses "Tickets Per Hour" (TPH) to define your value.  When you start out, not hard to meet expectations, but the longer you stay the more responsibilities they pile on you and the more they expect you to still keep up TPH. They expect you to "raise the bar" at all times. Eventually you will reach a breaking point where you either need to move up or out, if you miss the critical point you will quickly be on the downward spiral of burnout. 

If you are lucky you will have 2yrs, 3yrs if you come in as a L2, to either get on the path to Management or to find a L4 position to transition to. If it takes you longer than that to promote to L4 and/or transition, GTFO. Cause the pay will not stay competitive and you will start getting overshadowed by new talent for the sake of being 'new'.

Disclaimer aside, the daily work isn't hard. There is always something in the processes breaking. You will always discover something new to learn everyday. It is Amazon, "Striving to be Earth’s Best Employer" is valued as much as any other Leadership Principle, except "Frugality". You will be pushed to "Deliver Results" as much as possible with as little as possible.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Software engineer 458 salaries reported	$153,674 per year
Cloud engineer 60 salaries reported	$109,720 per year
Solution architect 73 salaries reported	$156,353 per year
Senior software engineer 74 salaries reported	$184,762 per year
Data center technician 20 salaries reported	$32.36 per hour

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