Pros
1. Excellent pay for new hires - A lot of recent hires have gotten a salary increase of 20% or more due to the current negotiation power and competition the employees have on companies so now is the time to join. 2. Fully remote roles - There are a lot of fully remote positions to choose from. I received my laptop via mail and haven't need to visit an office at all to do my work. 3. Certifications - Depending on the team you're hired, you will need to obtain up to 2 Certifications (1 AWS and 1 industry recognized) before your 1st year with the company. This forces the employee to increase their AWS and/or industry knowledge which has a positive impact in your skills and future. 4. Promotions occur every quarter - There is no rigid promotion structure; the employee is empowered to control and manage their promotion with the help of the manager and it can happen in as little as 6 months after starting with the company. The AWS culture encourages the employees to track all their progress and achievements in writing to use them as evidence for the promotion document which is used by management to approve or deny the employee's request. 5. Lot of opportunities inside the company - Employees are encourage to forge their path inside AWS and can change roles laterally at any time. Similar to the promotion process, there's no rigid structure and you can move around in your same band with the help of your manager.
Cons
1. 401k matching - The company only matches 2% after you contribute 4% or more to your 401k which is very little compared to most companies that match at least a 5% in your retirement account. 2. Taxes - The stock awards granted to the employee during their tenure are taxed at 35-45% (depending on the state you live in) when they are vested (given to you so you can keep or sell) and you need to pay those taxes by selling part of the awarded stock or out of pocket. 3. Time off or PTO - Total PTO for new hires is very small (3 weeks max and 8 holidays on 1st year) for all the talks about Work/Life balance from the company. 4. Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account ( Dependent Care FSA) - The maximum contribution amount for employees making more than $135k a year is $575 due to some internal Amazon policies. Every other company I've worked for allows a maximum of $5k to pay for child care expenses. 5. Training - Each new hire goes through 3 months of just training to learn the Amazon/AWS culture before starting any real work.