Outline
- Looking back my two years at Amazon
- Achievement — What did I achieve?
- Growth Area — What did I miss?
- Next Step — What’s next?
Looking Back
I still remember my first week at Amazon; started as a new-grad software engineer on March 2nd 2020, I could not imagine what was waiting during the first week. On my fourth date, the company applied the work-from-home policy for those who were eligible. Since I didn’t set up my phone to receive company emails, I was the only one on the entire floor of the building until my manger came to pick up his stuff around 10 AM and told me that the entire team started working remotely.
Instead of talking to my colleagues in person, I had to message them and start a video call to ask questions. Rather than walking ten minutes to the office, I only needed less than ten steps from my bed to the desk in my tiny(?) 550 sqft one-bedroom apartment. The entire world has changed, so I tried my best to get used to it.
Even as an early-career engineer, I tried to be efficient. I created my own list of step-by-step guides for repetitive or complex workflows so that I would not have to ask the same question twice. Rather than asking a question directly, I always spent some time figuring out my own from both internal and external resources. I was slowly getting some confidence with where to find resources I needed.
What did I learn?
I had internship experience in couple other tech companies, but I found it very unique from Amazon that people spend enough time for a design process before the implementation. Starting from functional and non-functional requirements, people set the right scope for projects and explore different options with various pros and cons. If you have not explored at least couple options as a solution, people at Amazon will start questioning it. Creating a solid design document is probably where most Amazonians spend their time in, and this process helped me to know how to start a project from the beginning to the end.
Besides the design-doc process, I also acquired a knowledge of code reviewing skills. As a software engineer, we not only write the code but also review other people’s code. During my first year, I was overwhelmed by that; I didn’t know what comments to put on, and I didn’t understand impact or workflow from the code. However, from my last two years of experience, I would say that reviewing other people’s code is just as valuable as writing your own code. It gives you an opportunity to look for things you don’t understand from the code and to discover different ways to write the code. You don’t get to write the best novel by writing thousands of lines of your own. The best novel comes from reading thousands of lines from other writers and combining them with your thoughts.
Growth Area
Out of all different skills I need for my role, a communication skill is what I would salivate the most. Having lived in the United States for almost 10 years, I still find myself not fluent in English, and that often becomes a barrier — during a meeting, especially with people from outside my team, I sometimes find it difficult to comprehend what they say without asking follow-up questions.
Pitching my opinion confidently within many other engineers is another growth area for me. When people bring up questions that somewhat oppose my proposal, I sometimes feel unprepared and put myself in a position to easily agree with them instead of giving them a rational feedback.
Acknowledging my shortcomings is the first step to grow. My next step would be to figure out how to keep improving in this area.
Next Chapter
I completed my first milestone at Amazon by getting a promotion. However, that doesn’t mean I can stop learning(!). There are still so many things that I need to grasp — never stop learning and always be hungry :) At the same time, don’t be narrow-sighted; look around other people and be a great team-player.
As a side note, I often find myself enjoy giving an advise or a suggestion from a high-level perspective to my colleagues or other engineers. I always thought of myself as a team-player, and I think I am fully engaged when I am interacting with people, not when I am siloed. I haven’t fully developed this idea, but if there is a chance for a manger or a pseudo-manager responsibility, I wouldn’t hesitate to grab it (we will see what happens :p )
As I always say it to anyone who I love and care, let ‘s do what we love and find happiness in every moment of the life.
