From AWS services to leadership principles—how three months at Amazon changed my perspective on building at scale.
Three months at Amazon felt like drinking from a fire hose—in the best possible way. Coming from my previous Samsung internship, I thought I understood what working at a tech giant meant, but Amazon's scale and pace were something entirely different.
Day One Mentality
Amazon's famous "Day 1" philosophy isn't just corporate speak—it's genuinely embedded in how people think and work here. From my first week, I was struck by how every decision, no matter how small, was approached with the urgency and curiosity of a startup, despite being one of the world's largest companies.
My team welcomed me with a project that would directly impact millions of customers, which was both thrilling and terrifying. The ownership culture here means that as an intern, your work isn't just busy work—it's real, impactful, and held to the same standards as any full-time engineer's contributions.
Building at Amazon Scale
Working in Amazon's PXT (People eXperience and Technology) organization gave me a unique perspective on how Amazon approaches internal tooling and employee experiences. The technical challenges were unlike anything I'd encountered before—building systems that serve Amazon's massive workforce requires the same level of scale and reliability as customer-facing products.
Even though I wasn't directly on the AWS team, I found myself using AWS services extensively. From Lambda functions to DynamoDB, S3 to CloudWatch, I got hands-on experience with the very infrastructure that powers much of the modern web. It was fascinating to be a customer of AWS while working at Amazon, seeing both sides of the ecosystem.
The Leadership Principles in Action
Amazon's 16 Leadership Principles aren't just wall decorations—they're actively used in decision-making, code reviews, and daily interactions. "Customer Obsession" and "Ownership" became more than buzzwords as I watched how every feature decision was traced back to customer impact.
What surprised me most was how "Disagree and Commit" played out in practice. I witnessed healthy debates where junior engineers challenged senior architects, and once a decision was made, everyone aligned fully behind it, regardless of their initial position.
Growth Through Challenge
This internship pushed me far outside my comfort zone, and I'm grateful for every challenging moment. Whether it was presenting to senior leadership, debugging production issues, or designing systems for fault tolerance, each experience built confidence I didn't know I needed.
Looking back, Amazon didn't just teach me about technology—it taught me about thinking big, moving fast, and building with the customer in mind. These lessons will shape how I approach problems for the rest of my career.