Amazon Data Engineer II reviews

In my first month at Amazon I found that most employees are unhappy and it is as designed. The management believes that employees come and go, it is the customer that matters and that is how the whole company is structured. I think this is root of all the problems at Amazon and they will never change because they are deeply ingrained in the culture. Operational burden is very high and most tools that are used in-house are in really bad shape. Unless you are super smart or political, you will have to work 60-80hrs a week to get a promotion.

The current Management trend is to create a perfect work environment to open a department, then gut Management and bring in throatcutters and micromanagers to "streamline operations". This doesn't seem to be performance based either - as in, well performing facilities are also subject to the same bad policies after they've been spun up. Managers belittle their employees behind their backs when they aren't even capable of doing the job themselves. The Amazon Principles ONLY apply to the bottom two rungs of the company. Anything above that is the antithesis of the policies that they claim to hold so dear. Itemized below: Customer Obsession: Management is obsessed with lining their own pockets and abandoning their post before they have to be held accountable for their decisions. The customer is an afterthought. Ownership: The common phrase heard around the office is "deflect deflect deflect!". The only thing Management "owns" at Amazon are their employee's hard work. Even when they flat out KNOW that they're responsible, they will do everything in their power to blame another department. Invent and Simplify: Our department was original and simple a year ago. Now it is the same old thing you can find EVERYWHERE, is exponentially more complex than it needs to be, and is designed to prevent the employee from communicating with the decisionmakers. Are Right, A Lot: They just aren't. I can't say more without disclosing undisclosable information, but they aren't. They're the wrongest thing I've ever encountered. Hire and Develop the Best: They did this for about a year. Once the facilities were built and the processes were in place, upper management was replaced by external employees. They have systematically been running the "thinkers" out of the department. A few levels about the DCO technicians, a boss was overheard saying that "If they were remotely intelligent they would be doing something other than working in a datacenter." Respect from the upper eschelons is nonexistant, and most of them wouldn't be able to replace a power cord without calling Best Buy. Insist on the Highest Standards: Again, this was something that was heavilly leaned upon when the facilities were being built. As time goes on, standards have bottomed out, productivity has gone down, and morale is nonexistent. Think Big: This is supposed to mean "think outside of the box", but Management seems to think that means "180 degrees from Reason" Bias for Action: Management moves so quickly that they can't even keep up with replacing their staff. Frugality: They have spent many many millions of dollars on security procedures that don't work. They are continuing to try to force square pegs into round holes and spending a TRUCKLOAD of money to do it. Vocally Self Critical: "Deflect! Deflect! Deflect!" Management has not reversed a single terrible decision that they've made. Quite the contrary, when it has been made even more obvious that their plans are stupid they buckle down and stubbornly plow ahead. It hasn't worked yet. Earn the Trust of Others: Their orientation does a fantastic job of this. The trust does not appear to be warranted. Dive Deep: This is supposed to mean "look below the surface" and keep digging until you find the problem. When the bosses of my bosses were informed of the problems they quite obviously dismissed the complaints. Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit: People who have a backbone are systematically run out of the facility by bad policy and horrible decisions. The latest round is flipping the entire staff's personal lives on end every three months - a policy that doesn't apply to Managers. Deliver Results: The results that they are delivering are substandard and dishonest.