I've hired several AWS engineers. Everyone of them, despite of having left AWS had nothing but good things to say. You'd think that since they left AWS, they'd have a boat load of things to unload. The only gripe I heard was occassional work/life balance during launch or critical times. Otherwise, AWS/Amazon is akin to working at Intel, GE, IBM, Oracle, etc. Bog standard corporate job. You are a cog in the machine, get used to it. In return you get a stable career, can raise a family and do better than 99.99% of the people on this planet.
NYT's story was very controversial.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/17/432555175...
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/amazon-...
https://www.vox.com/2015/8/17/9166023/new-york-times-amazon
NYT has a tremendous agenda and often goes unchecked.