Is Amazon an unpleasant place to work? Why or why not?

Because its full of type A personalities, and very annoying micro-managers...this company, especially the Retail org is build top down to manage with stick...you'll be scolded very harshly for the smallest Q mistake you do. and if you do something great...well it was because you did your job. People Managers are herding sheep's to get work done, no one is incentivized to motivate employees or work as a team. It wont matter if your dad is in ER or wife is delivering your baby...if your manager asked something because his manager "might" ask , you better get it done. I've seen these incidents mentioned in performance reviews of people....can you imagine the insane level of unreasonable expectations management have here.  This company is not about recognition, not celebrating success, but you'll see a lot about throwing each other under the bus...yes Amazon is customer centric, you'll love it as a customer but why would you work in such a high pressure, high stress environment.  They throw money and hire new people because old people get frustrated and just leave.(15-20% attrition, can you imagine). So if you are thinking of coming here think what do you want--more money or a humane treatment.

We get paid with money and challenges....it depends, if you hate being challenged then its surely an unpleasant place to work  :)

Certainly not. As Pradeep already said earlier. This company is full of challenges.. and if you like taking them its a fun place to be. Work pressure is subjective. The only thing I can say is that there is enough work to do. If you can do it smartly there is no work pressure.

I personally don't have much knowledge about working at Amazon, but I do have friends who work at Amazon, and they love it. They do work endless hours (sometimes) but are very proud of their work and results. I work in Public Accounting, and we work endless hours during busy season and we don't even change the world like Amazon does.When there's work that needs to be done, it will be done. Amazon, in my opinion is no different than most big tech companies who have grown exponentially in terms of revenue or innovation. Not many of us get to work on new products almost everyday. The NYT article seems a little biased, I will not discredit everything it says, but some of the lines like people crying in their desks, etc, seem like a soap opera plot, to make it sound more dramatic. I would readily work for Amazon, despite all the negativity, as long as I am respected and I get to become part of innovation. Amazon is known to provide its employees with tools to innovate and take charge.

I see the last comment placed is in 2012. Now it is 2014 and nothing has changed in Amazon. Content mentioned in the commens by Eric, Peter and several anonymous reviews are still true.

I have worked with Amazon India as an intern in Software development and I don't think it was anywhere close to being unpleasant. Of course the expectations are high, but nobody forces you to do things in strict deadlines. Besides this, there is a lot of support from coworkers and managers. Not everyday brings a challenge that is unsolvable till the end of the day. I was more than happy to work there. In general every company has people who don't like their jobs, not because there is something wrong with the company but only because there is something wrong with the attitude. People continue doing things they don't like doing just to earn a living, which aggregates in the form of frustrations and then it becomes an "unpleasant" place to work.

With such a big company, you are going to be getting answers here from people who have had great experiences and probably some people who are not a great fit for the job. If you are the kind of person who needs somebody to hold your hand and break your project down into manageable steps for you, this is definitely not the job for you. If, however, you are the kind of person who enjoys owning a project from start to finish even as a level one software engineer, Amazon may be the place for you. I am a software engineer for the Kindle side of the company. I have only been in this position for 7 months, but I feel that I have contributed much more in these first 7 months than I did in my entire 2 years at my last position (major defense contracting company). Has it been easy? No. Has it taken more than 40 hours per week? Yes, sometimes. Has it been rewarding? Absolutely. Do I feel appreciated for the work I have done? Yeah, my manager rules. I interviewed for other software companies that offer the fringe benefits like doing your dry cleaning and serving you three meals per day. I appreciated the fact that Amazon is willing to compensate me very well and allow me to do what I want with that money. This is a long convoluted way for me to give you an answer to your question. Is Amazon an unpleasant place to work? It depends. Not every job is going to be right for everyone. That's what's great about working in software - you have the opportunity to work at a variety of companies to find the right fit for you :)

Amazon creates a very hostile, unfriendly work environment in it's distribution center in Lexington, KY.  They suck the life out of employees then give them the boot when they are all used up.  I am hoping Jeff Bezos finds out what his company is doing and takes action to restore his vision to what it should be.   They regularly send security to walk an employee out because they were taken from their regular position, placed in a new position and only met 99% of their rate for the new position.  It seems they are trying to get rid of anyone who has worked in the warehouse positions for many years so they can bring in lower paid staff members to do the work.  Once the new guy is worn out they bring in a new person off the street, get rid of them and repeat.  Do we really want our items so cheap, so fast that we will imperil the lives of our fellow Americans?  I don't and I hope you don't either.  It's sweat shop mentality and we are reinforcing it every time we buy an item from Amazon.

If one became best in the sense It has some extra Quality compare to others. All the companies are providing so many benefits to their employees these days and trying to bring the new trends day by day. But only a thin narrow gap will decide you whether you should stand in First place or second.Company like Amazon is so useful for employee. It has some benefits like Healthcare, It will gives you time off,saving plans as well as employee stock and relocation assistance.There are so many reasons to say Amazon is a best place to work.Recently I studied an article http://content.wisestep.com/reasons-amazon-best-place-work/ . You can find the exact answer for your question.