as a side note -- I have several friends who work at both Microsoft and Amazon as I live here in Seattle.
My Microsoft friends are A LOT happier -- they have a much more balanced schedule, are not expected to be available on a moments notice and feel much more relaxed at their job. The friends I know at Amazon are very rarely off at a normal time, have a lot more pressure from the higher ups and have to regularly take high quantities of "on call" work.
I'm here in Seattle and my limited experience with Amazonians and Microsofties matches yours, though I think it matters more what group you wind up working with as much as anything. There may be great groups to work for at Amazon, but I sure haven't heard of any of them.
From what I hear it is almost entirely based on your team. If you are on a team that is working on a product that is forward facing or requires constant uptime (AWS, eCommerce platform.. etc) then you can expect to share responsibility for critical bugs or catastrophic failure. Kindle dev- not so much.
As far as I know, this isn't as bad as everyone tends to think. I kind of accept it along with the engineering culture- I prefer to be responsible for my projects rather than wait til 9am to put out fires. But I may be biased as a young, single, and so very poor student considering working for Amazon. If anyone has a better idea of the work/life balance at Amazon, I'd be grateful to hear more.
aaronbrethorst hit the nail on the head- there is a definite benefit to starting at a large software company. For me and my friends whom are looking for our first FTE positions, startups are daunting due to impostor syndrome. In my case, I don't know if I am skilled enough to jump right into a niche startup and be relied upon so heavily to ship. Amazon, Microsoft, etc provide a great place to learn from very intelligent people in the industry.
Sorry, I don't mean to sound super discouraging about Amazon -- I think it can be a great fit for right out of college if you're looking for some great experience in a fast paced environment. They do have a very high burnout rate though, as many people leave around the two year mark. One of my friends has had three different managers in the past year (one fired, two quit).
I think as my specific social circle is reaching the twilight of our 20s, those environments are less and less appealing for a lot of us but a few wouldn't trade it for the world.
Comments
as a side note -- I have several friends who work at both Microsoft and Amazon as I live here in Seattle.
My Microsoft friends are A LOT happier -- they have a much more balanced schedule, are not expected to be available on a moments notice and feel much more relaxed at their job. The friends I know at Amazon are very rarely off at a normal time, have a lot more pressure from the higher ups and have to regularly take high quantities of "on call" work.
I'm here in Seattle and my limited experience with Amazonians and Microsofties matches yours, though I think it matters more what group you wind up working with as much as anything. There may be great groups to work for at Amazon, but I sure haven't heard of any of them.
From what I hear it is almost entirely based on your team. If you are on a team that is working on a product that is forward facing or requires constant uptime (AWS, eCommerce platform.. etc) then you can expect to share responsibility for critical bugs or catastrophic failure. Kindle dev- not so much.
As far as I know, this isn't as bad as everyone tends to think. I kind of accept it along with the engineering culture- I prefer to be responsible for my projects rather than wait til 9am to put out fires. But I may be biased as a young, single, and so very poor student considering working for Amazon. If anyone has a better idea of the work/life balance at Amazon, I'd be grateful to hear more.
aaronbrethorst hit the nail on the head- there is a definite benefit to starting at a large software company. For me and my friends whom are looking for our first FTE positions, startups are daunting due to impostor syndrome. In my case, I don't know if I am skilled enough to jump right into a niche startup and be relied upon so heavily to ship. Amazon, Microsoft, etc provide a great place to learn from very intelligent people in the industry.
Sorry, I don't mean to sound super discouraging about Amazon -- I think it can be a great fit for right out of college if you're looking for some great experience in a fast paced environment. They do have a very high burnout rate though, as many people leave around the two year mark. One of my friends has had three different managers in the past year (one fired, two quit).
I think as my specific social circle is reaching the twilight of our 20s, those environments are less and less appealing for a lot of us but a few wouldn't trade it for the world.
You might, as you get older, learn to prevent the fires in the first place :)