Today was my last day at Amazon. To say that my time here has been eventful would be an understatement. I went from being an ultra-n00b Intern to a full-fledged Engineer in 3.5 years. I met some brilliant people from different parts of India, and I learned a lot from them.

Amazon was my first job out of college, and I'll always remember it fondly. The quaint city of Hyderabad was as a lovely backdrop for the whole experience.

The sheer scale of Amazon's operations still amazes me. A robust set of engineering principles and tooling enable this scale. The engineering org is highly focused on serving the business and does not indulge in distractions. It may not be perfect, but it is one way of doing things and worth experiencing. Amazon has acted as a springboard for my career. It has contributed to my technical growth and made me a better engineer. I am lucky to have seen such humongous systems being built and operated.

Working at Amazon also leveled up some of my non-technical but equally important skills: I am a lot more comfortable speaking in meetings, hosting talks, and mingling with strangers.

The 14 (in?)famous Leadership Principles drive Amazon's culture and make it a 'peculiar' place. People can be very passionate while using them. Justifying decisions using the principles was a painful process for sure. I tried mapping them to moral and ethical principles instead of using them at face value, which I believe is their real intention. But who knows for sure, that is for Jeff Bezos to clarify.

From being scared of publishing a change to confidently pushing hotfixes to production, I have come a long way indeed. I will always be grateful for the things I've learned here and cherish the relationships I have fostered.

That's enough reminiscing for today I supppose. Now onwards and upwards! 🚀