Amazon Software Development Engineer II reviews

3.5

58% would recommend to a friend

(955 total reviews)
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Andrew Jassy

19% approve of CEO

53% positive business outlook

Software Development Engineer II employees have rated Amazon with 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 955 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Software Development Engineer II professionals have a good working experience there. Amazon is rated in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) by Software Development Engineer II professionals compared to other employers within the Tecnologías de la información industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

955 reviews
4.0
May 1, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are a bazillion different projects to work on, and 95% of them are solving interesting, difficult software engineering problems. Compensation package is great. What I like best though is that everyone here is smart and motivated. Almost no slackers. Everyone is talented and (at least on my floor) works hard. Obviously it's a huge company, so my experience is just a small sample, but I'd recommend you give it a shot. Just be prepared for the rigorous computer-science-heavy technical interview. A little preparation is all it takes - there are books available on interview prep that cover all aspects of what to expect...

Cons

Learning curve for their home-grown tools can be steep. Nothing seems to work exactly right at first, but it just takes some practice (plus RTFM). Also, the culture is fairly Darwinian, so you are expected to figure things out yourself. a lot of the time. There is no "five minute rule" where you get to ask someone for help if you are stuck for more than 5 minutes (which is too bad when it stretches to 5 hours ...)

5.0
Apr 12, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Lots of growth potential; Decentralized organization give freedom to teams to define their processes; Encourage and reward pro-activeness and drive; Surrounded by highly intelligent and effective colleagues; SDE have a lot of power and works full stack; Vancouver location a lot more relaxed and balanced culture compared to HQ; One of the best compensation in the city

Cons

Decentralized means your experience will be based heavily on your team and manager; Lack of structure and training, you are expected to be advocate for yourself; SDE have to do on-call operational duty.

3.0
Mar 30, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

*Solid proprietary systems allow for building software services extremely fast and easy *Great opportunity for career growth as Amazon in Toronto is expanding (Continue to go on the route for Software, opportunity to be a Project Manager, and also go down the road of being a manager) *Work with very smart individuals

Cons

*Strong focus on delivery forces developers to think of solutions fast that typically cause maintenance issues 1-2 years down the road (Low quality of code) *There is no such thing as under promise and over deliver since Management's expectation for developers is to pressure them into delivering as much as possible *Work/life balance: On-call on some teams are hectic (pages 2-4 times a week at any time of day). *Remote Office: Being in a remote office in Toronto means late meetings with Seattle and less visibility to Seattle counter parts sometimes impacting promotion cycles. Barely any community feeling.

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