Not the rainforest – yet.
Summer 2025 has been incredibly eventful and fun – the biggest piece of it has been my software engineering internship at Amazon.
12 weeks of learning the in’s and out’s of production level coding at the largest scale, coupled with moving to Seattle alone, makes for a very interesting experience, and one I’m incredibly grateful to have had.
Going in to it, I had heard that Amazon has a culture of delivering results of the highest quality with speed, a place where things get done quickly, efficiently, and with the highest standards in mind. While it may sound intimidating, let me be the first to say that it is those exact qualities that made my experience so incredibly valuable to me as an engineer.
Engineering is a fundamentally hard discipline. Any engineering. It just is. No one is born with the magical ability to just design entire systems or solve complex math problems or think of brand new ways to write code. And just like anything else in life that’s hard, the only way to get better at it – is to do it. And do it a lot, consistently, over a long period of time, making mistakes over and over again until you understand it.
I’ve been lucky enough to do exactly that for the past 12 weeks – and having finished my intern project in 9 weeks, here are my two biggest takeaways to be successful:
1. Have a bias for action
Full disclosure, this is Amazon’s line, not mine – but it is so true. The hardest part of any undertaking is actually just starting. Getting the ball rolling. Taking the first step. Because once you’re there, momentum kicks in, and it kicks in hard. One small win you have when you finally figure out how that function in the codebase works quickly snowballs into your design doc for the entire project being unanimously approved by your team. Scheduling that meeting with a senior engineer your first week will give you lessons and insights from decades of experience that shape how you approach every problem you’ll ever face.
You can never go wrong by always trying and always doing – worst case scenario, you’ll add to your list of things you know not to do. Your list of experiences and domain knowledge of life as a whole just expands exponentially the more you just do things. Whether you’re writing code or taking a class or just about anything, your best bet is to always try, always reach out, always take the first step.
2. If you’re going to do something, give it your 100%.
You don’t have to be perfect. No one is. But you can always give it your best.
No matter what the task on hand is, even, and especially if it’s something you’ve never done before, go all in. Dive deep. Figure out exactly how every single most small and seemingly insignificant part of the system works. Because while it might not be immediately apparent, having that passion to understand the why behind everything and not just the how is what separates the senior and principal engineers from the entry level ones.
I’ve found it impossible to remain stagnant and not grow as an individual if I go all in on everything I do, especially the things I’ve never done before. It becomes so much easier to do everything, because there’s now that intrinsic motivation. And the people around you will notice – and its something that everyone will appreciate. No matter how good or bad I may think I’m doing, I never once received negative feedback for providing too much detail in my questions. For listing out too many solutions I already tried that didn’t work. For going above and beyond to understand things that are way above what’s expected of me. And soon enough, everything starts to click. You’ll look back at the questions you sent the senior engineer on Slack from a few weeks back and think about how obvious that answer is to you now.
And at that moment, that’s when you’ll know you’ve been doing it right. Because you got better – and because you wanted to get better.
What I’m really trying to hammer home is that you will never regret putting in the work for yourself, in everything that you do. Whether it be getting to know new friends, new colleagues, management, professors, or even the CEO of Amazon (yes, he does come talk to interns), always be present, be proactive, and enjoy every experience and learning lesson, especially if it’s something totally new and out of your comfort zone.
If I learned anything during my time at Amazon, it’s that you’ll never regret trying your best.
