There are teams building cool things, used by large customers, where you're paid decently.

It's not really all that dystopian.

Thanks for the info. I come across more and more of these articles that paint a grim picture of Amazon's engineering departments. But as an outsider I get the feeling that's it's better than your average mid sized startup where you will be lucky to make 1/3 of what an Amazon engineer makes, while working more hours and getting your performance reviewed by equally sociopathic middle managers. I still wonder how it compares to other FAANG companies though.

I think Amazon is not as bad as people harp on. However, other FAANG's definitely pay more, have better benefits, give refreshers, and also don't have a culture which heavily emphasizes PIPs.

Since Amazon interviews are similar to other FAANGs, people who pass an Amazon interview have a higher correlation of passing other interviews. Those FAANGs and associated companies tend to have a higher value proposition so people tend to choose them.

I think there may be some who appreciate certain idealized notions of the company’s operations and competence in engineering and logistics. Few other companies could offer the same mix of software and real-world engineering at scale.