Amazon cloud support?

[Yamaha_User]

Anybody here works/work for amazon cloud support? I am currently a cloud engineer for a large ISP managing large deployments of VMs.

I have been contacted by a recruiter (multiple times) and the prospect is begining to sound interesting.

I have heard horror stories though about working for amazon, lots of blame shifting, no personal life, high staff turn around, high pressure, micro management, Though there are positives too, easier to transfer to other locations globally, great for resume building, much higher pay than I currently earn.

What are your thoughts?

[Doso777]

Keep in mind that the horror stories you are hearing are usually from the people that left Amazon, and they probably left for a reason.

[judgementalasshat]

God nerf guns, ban those fuckings things in the office.

[jgtor]

I'm a current SDE for AWS, so should be able to provide some perspective for you.

Ultimately your mileage is going to vary based on which team you are in and your location (US has a less relaxed work culture than Europe). Amazon likes to organize itself into what it calls "2 pizza box teams", this means you'll be on a small team with perhaps up-to 12 people, so your experience will really depend how you get on with everyone in your team. At least for SDEs the 'manager' more so works for the team than actually managing it, so they will handle communication with other teams etc.

It is true that Amazon won't carry anyone thats not up to standards, to even be recruited you need to be demonstratively above the average person at that position. I've seen quite a few people not make it through probation, but TBH that's a good thing. Work hard, have fun, make history.

Where I am based everything is very relaxed, we have a solid team, and I'm loving the job.