Amazon has been quite a wild time. Throughout the first month of my internship, I’ve been exposed to many new people, ideas, and technologies.
The way of life in Seattle is unlike anything I’ve seen before. Who knew that going on the iSchool’s Experiential Learning trip, Peak2Peak, last summer would be a precursor for the events this summer?
The First Weeks at Amazon
My team’s responsible for calculating seller fees for items that are on the Amazon Marketplace. These first few weeks have been about getting orientated to way that software development engineers do work and understanding my team’s software.
I’ve learned that Amazon puts a lot of emphasis on their 13 leadership principles that help its employees guide the decisions they make every single day. Going through a software development bootcamp and thrown right into my project, I’ve been treated as I was a full time employee here at Amazon.
Following agile software development methodologies, my team and I recently went through a design review of my design document for my project where I received feedback about my plan to develop my application. My internship has given the opportunity to create my own standalone application and completely own it; I’ve never been more excited!
Embrace Being Outside of Your Comfort Zone
I can already tell that through this internship I’m going to grow both professionally and personally. Through moving across country from New York, I’ve been put very much outside of my comfort zone. The key is to embrace it.
I’ve taken the initiative to set up meetings with technical managers and level 3 software engineers to learn the most I can in these 12 weeks I have in Seattle. The iSchool’s given me the confidence to do just that and I can’t wait to see how it plays out. There’s so much opportunity here, why not take advantage of it?
Life in Seattle So Far
It can be quite intimidating coming out here alone by yourself, luckily I’ve been able to find a good cohort of people my age who are willing to take advantage of everything the Pacific Northwest has to offer.
I’ve already climbed my way up to the 4000 foot high peak of Mount Si, trekked around the Capital Hill/South Lake Union area, and taken multiple ferries across the Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island to explore this beautiful region of the US.
Amazon has also planned a boatload of events for us interns including music festivals, sporting events, and early movie screenings. I have plans to go to a bunch of concerts and explore even more of the wilderness out here, maybe I’ll even get to the top of Mt. Rainier!
Seattle’s a beautiful city. I can definitely picture myself living here after college if I’m lucky enough to get that opportunity. If you ever get the chance to live in a different city, then take the chance. It’ll make you grow exponentially and totally worth it. Let’s see what the rest of the summer brings.
