I work at Amazon as a Senior Software Development Engineer. (Obviously, my opinions are my own, and I don't speak for the company in any official capacity.) I

I work at Amazon as a Senior Software Development Engineer. (Obviously, my opinions are my own, and I don't speak for the company in any official capacity.) I don't doubt any stories shared in that article, but none of those match my personal experience. I'd imagine like at any large company, some of it will depend on who your boss is, and in my particular case my boss is very clear that family stuff is first priority, and that any "crunch time" should be limited both by length and frequency of occurrence. When people on our team have health issues, have to take care of sick children or spouses, have to deal with car or apartment problems, they go and deal with it and I've never seen any teammates be anything but supportive of that. At most of the companies I've worked at prior to Amazon, it was common to have people stay until 6:30 or later. When I stay until 6:30 or so (which I do because I commute from NJ into the city, and so my schedule lines up with train times - not because I'm being overworked), there are usually not many people around.