Amazon reviews

Working at a fast-pace company like Amazon.com has some downsides as well. Documentation is scarce and often times out-dated and people mostly rely on the "tribal-knowledge" accumulated over time to get things done. There are ongoing initiatives that address the problem, but I think it is inherent to the agile software development process, which puts less emphasis on documentation and more on delivering shippable software. However, this does make it challenging to troubleshoot a problem (you end up nagging team members, getting frustrated) and also reinventing the wheel sometimes. Amazon.com is a push-to-web type of software (contrast with "shrink-wrap" software, which you are generally off the hook after the project is down, so quality plays a great role), and there has not been much emphasis put on the quality of software until recently. In other words, quality assurance is nascent at Amazon.com, and resources are scarce. I admit that testing a software at Amazon scale is very tough and it is also not easy to find good test engineers. As a result, developers are sometimes asked to take on some QA-specific tasks, which might be off-putting for some. However, I would also argue that this is an opportunity, because there is enough room to try out new ideas and to tailor the process for individual teams' needs. Frugality is a core principle at Amazon.com: don't expect to have access to free drinks / food (except coffe/tea).

Bad place to learn about software engineering. Amazon.com is a Rube Goldberg machine that sells books (and other stuff). Many SEs spend more time in support than development. Management quality is very uneven. Everyone else also gets to roll-their-own engineering. The dynamics of the resume system mean you are most likely to be hired by a group with high turnover.