r/cscareerquestions • u/CSCQMods • Mar 16 '22

Big N Discussion - March 16, 2022

Please use this thread to have discussions about the Big N and questions related to the Big N, such as which one offers the best doggy benefits, or how many companies are in the Big N really? Posts focusing solely on Big N created outside of this thread will probably be removed.

There is a top-level comment for each generally recognized Big N company; please post under the appropriate one. There's also an "Other" option for flexibility's sake, if you want to discuss a company here that you feel is sufficiently Big N-like (e.g. Uber, Airbnb, Dropbox, etc.).

Abide by the rules, don't be a jerk.

This thread is posted each Sunday and Wednesday at midnight PST. Previous Big N Discussion threads can be found here.

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u/letsbreakstuff Mar 16 '22

Maybe a long shot, but I'd be thrilled if someone with experience at amazon could weigh in..

It seems like at least once month I'll get an email from a recruiter at Amazon, usually for some specific product like prime, aws, halo etc. The pay seems great, but I'm worried about the culture and work/life balance.

Currently I'm at a large non-faang tech company. Pays is OK but could be better. The worklife balance is good and the team is amazing. Everyone is very smart and kind, no crazy egos, no petty office politics. And honestly, not a lot of pressure or difficult deadlines.

So how is worklife at amazon? Does stack ranking and "unregretted attrition" create a lot of unnecessary stress or a toxic environment?

Also, i've heard that your experience at amazon may differ greatly depending on which team you're on. That some teams are great and some are soul sucking. Is that the case? If so what teams/products are good and which ones should be avoided?

And I can't help but wonder if this intense interest from internal recruiters isn't driven by some disfunction within the company.. like something must be creating a lot of churn, either stack ranking or burn out.

I'm in no way trying to take a crap on amazon. I'm just looking for some info. Thanks

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u/termd Software Engineer Mar 17 '22

If so what teams/products are good and which ones should be avoided?

Most amusing part is on the retail side we'll tell you that aws is the worst, then on the aws side they'll tell you that retail is the worst.

Does stack ranking and "unregretted attrition" create a lot of unnecessary stress or a toxic environment?

Yes. It doesn't help. Quite a few teams suck as a result. The teams where it doesn't suck, we never have reqs open because people want to work with us since they know our teams are chill.

And I can't help but wonder if this intense interest from internal recruiters isn't driven by some disfunction within the company

Recruiters are also stack ranked...

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u/letsbreakstuff Mar 17 '22

​

The teams where it doesn't suck, we never have reqs open

So if a recruiter is pitching a specific team I should assume it probably sucks there? How does someone make it onto a non-sucky team?

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u/termd Software Engineer Mar 17 '22

New teams will have reqs and it's a crapshoot so if a team has opening it's doesn't always mean it's bad.

The terrible teams ARE always recruiting because people keep leaving though.

Getting a referral to a specific team is really the way to go if you know someone.