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Amazon Web Services

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Great Engineering, Declining Leadership - Senior Software Development Engineer Amazon Web Services Employee Review

3.0
Mar 29, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

* The company's Leadership Principles and document-driven meetings are good frameworks for a company culture. * There are a lot of smart, motivated, principled people working there. It is easier to be on a good team with good coworkers. * It is relatively easy to move around in the company. And because the company is involved in so many different things, it is easier to find a team that is a good fit for you. * Lots of opportunities for interesting technical challenges to work on. * Lots of good resources in software engineering to learn from. * Reasonable opportunities for promotion and career growth.

Cons

* The company culture in more recent years does not seem to adhere to their own Leadership Principles as much as it used to. * The company used to value bottom-up decision-making a lot more. More recent years have been trending toward more top-down mandates and micromanagement. * Senior leadership is not what it used to be. * The company is very much all-in on generative AI. This applies both to the leadership's direction for the company, as well as how employees are expected to use it. * High pressure environment with an emphasis on moving fast is not for everyone. Moving fast also means frequent churn. * Maintaining a work-life balance can be challenging if you are not intentional about it. * Oncall support can be draining. Some organizations invest in operational improvements better than others.

Explore other reviews about Amazon Web Services

5.0
Jun 21, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Working with latest and greatest technology

Cons

Work life balance is challenging

3.0
Jul 1, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Strong place to be early in your career as it provides valuable training and the brand recognition can create strong future opportunities. - Is great if you’re interested in what you’re doing/selling

Cons

- 5 days in office is not great for work/life balance - If your manager doesn’t like you, good luck! - 401k match is lower than most companies - Base salary compensation is weak compared to other big tech - Leveling/career progression is near impossible due to reorgs leading to a promotion “freeze” - Role can evolve over time in ways that may not align with original job expectations

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