Pros
- Amazon stock! This is by far the biggest reason to work here. For some reason, Audible has a much more generous vesting policy than Amazon does for direct Amazon employees. - You get to put Amazon on your resume. That carries a lot of weight in tech. - Very nice catered lunches. For a company the size of Audible, the caterers do a remarkable job, both in varity and quality. You're not going to confuse it for a Google cafeteria, but it is very good. Given the lack of options for dining in Newark, it's also well needed. - If you aren't creative, talented or motivated, you can get a cushy gig where you don't have to do very much and tiny "accomplishments" are recognized. If you were to add a help button to an app, that would be considered a big deal. You can seriously pad your estimates and no one will call you on it.
Cons
I've never worked for such a top-down company. Decisions are made capriciously, based on very little analysis. If Don (the CEO) were to tell product to build a version of the Audible player that is optimized for a Samsung Galaxy 8 in a BWM 7-series that is driving down the New Jersey Turn Pike at 68 miles an hour to a home in Montclair, product leadership would say "OK, would you like another version for when you are going 45 miles an hour?" When I interview people for jobs, I make up progressively more ridiculous requirements to see if/when they will push back. The best candidates push back on absurd requests. Not so with the product leadership here. The company's supposed top "people principle" is to be customer obsessed. As far as leadership goes, the only customer they obsess about is Don. There are so many levels of management that it feels like people are playing "company." CXOs (except Don), SVPs and VPs all map to the same level as a director at Amazon. That's a very big role at Amazon. Why Audible needs three levels for that I can't explain. Every level wants reporting. I don't know whether Don knows this or not, but the product team probably spends more time managing spreadsheets, status reports and plans than it does building products. Even though the company is top down and doesn't allow people to make decisions, the leadership is never available for meetings. A common cycle: Hey, do X. X is done and ready for approval. First available meeting slot to review X is scheduled for three weeks later Meeting canceled at last minute. Meeting rescheduled two weeks later. Meanwhile boss is yelling about why his product isn't done, oblivious to fact that it's not done because he canceled the meeting to approve it. There has been a ton of attrition lately. I hope management is taking note of that and the plummeting ratings on glassdor. If you are creative, talented and motivated, you will have the life sucked out of you within the first quarter.
