Life At Amazon (#1)
An inside look at what it's like working at Amazon, more specifically Amazon Web Services.
Hey folks I’m back with this weeks post. Apologies that it’s a bit late. Lets just dive in. We’ll take a look at how I got to Amazon and my career thus far at Amazon.
I graduated college with a BS in Computer Engineering with a focus in Computer Networks. I joined Amazon straight out of college in 2019. I joined as a Systems Analyst (a role that no longer exists) on a team tasked with staffing enough engineers to help launch the AWS Top Secret Cloud.
One of the perks of this team was that it allowed me to rotate across various AWS teams to explore different roles and find what I truly wanted to do. This gave me exposure to teams ranging from Networking to S3, and even the Groundstation team.
The Early Struggles: Burnout and Overwork
The first few months were challenging, I really struggled with the delineation of work life and personal life. I was working from 9am - 6pm during the week and putting in hours over the weekend. In my mind this was how I was going to get ahead, by putting in more hours than anyone. As you can imagine, this started to slowly burn me out. I was finding myself less motivated in my day-to-day because all I could focus on was what I still didn’t know. I wanted to learn everything I could as fast I could learn it.
This approach was completely unsustainable. As ridiculous as it sounds, retrospectively, this was worth it in the end. This hustle in the beginning allowed me to really find my footing and be useful to the team(s) that I was working with. A fellow colleague gave me the best advice possible at that time: “There’s enough work here to drown. There will always be work.”. This, seemingly, obvious piece of advice really helped me level-set my goals. It allowed me to focus more on the work I was tasked with and less so on the many things I didn’t know. This taught me the importance of pacing yourself.
Finding My Footing: Building Disconnected Edge Solutions
Remember I said the team I was on allowed mobility till I found something I liked? Well I found what I liked. I joined a team building the next generation of Disconnected Edge Solutions. At the time AWS already had an Edge Solution offering, the Snow Family of products. However, the disconnected edge space was largely untapped from AWS, that’s where this team existed. This team is where I built most of my technical expertise. I was exposed to everything from generating customer interest, all the way to physically building the solution on top of helping create the software backend to support the customer needs.
The work I did on this team built the very foundation of my technical know-how. We solved some very challenging problems while trying to get this product out the door. We had on-device WiFi, computing power at the edge, storage, etc. The work I did on this product introduced me to embedded programming, low-level kernel modifications, the intersection of software and hardware. I stayed on this team until its inevitable liquidation (this was last year).
Where Am I Now?
I am now on a team which provides network connectivity to customers. Think of AWS Direct Connect (DX), I work on a product very similar to that. That’s what I’ve been doing the last year or so. Helping productionize the system and slowly deliver it to customers.
What I’ve Learned
Reflecting on my journey, I’ve realized a few key lessons:
Pace Yourself: Early on, I fell into the trap of thinking more hours meant faster progress. It’s important to work hard but equally important to avoid burnout. Find a sustainable work-life balance.
Find Your Niche: Rotating through different teams gave me the chance to discover what I’m passionate about. Take advantage of similar opportunities to explore your interests and strengths.
Learn Continuously: The technical challenges I faced—whether embedded programming or building edge solutions—were opportunities to grow. Never shy away from learning new things, even if they seem daunting at first.
Let’s Connect
That’s a quick overview of my career at AWS so far. If you have any questions about Amazon, the interview process, or my experience, feel free to reach out. Also, let me know if you enjoyed this post and if there are any topics you’d like me to cover in future posts.
Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next week!
Ali
Thanks for sharing. It's impressive that you have joined Amazon straight after graduation. I also had a similar experience of putting too much time in work and didn't end well. But glad you have found a way to make it more sustainable!