I have worked at startups as well as at Amazon. I would choose Amazon over most startups. In my experience the biggest factor in job satisfaction is the manage

I have worked at startups as well as at Amazon. I would choose Amazon over most startups. In my experience the biggest factor in job satisfaction is the manager. A good manager can create a great work environment even with stack ranking. A terrible manager can kill morale regardless of company policy. I like Amazon culture. Managers are mostly experienced and well-trained. Startups vary a lot. Could be amazing but also terrible. Some of my startup managers were comically bad. I suspect this was because they were inexperienced. It’s like the difference between parenting your first child versus parenting the third child.