Amazon Discover: Spring Insight Participant Review

Extremely insightful talks about Amazon and its growth. The first day was more of an introduction to the company and 'a day in the life of a software engineer'. For the technical group work, I really liked the fact that it started out as small, easier technical interview questions that we all had to have a go at in real time. We used live code for the coding questions and got immediate feedback on our work.

I particularly enjoyed the live code sessions as it was extremely helpful in preparing me for similar scenarios where I would be having to code in an interview for a tech role. In this, I feel like I honed in on more on my technical skills as an intermediate programmer. We were encouraged to ask many questions about the task before we started to write the code so we can get the requirements right, this taught me the skill of asking critical questions and thinking outside the box to see if I have gotten all the requirements necessary for writing complete code.

Before this Insight Event, I thought that I would only ever like to apply to tech-focused roles where my main task was to code. However, during this event, I realised that I am also interested in many other roles that were more client-facing but also tech-related, such as consulting roles and such. This opportunity gave me the further insight I was missing into different tech roles within a company that I could apply to and use all my technical and soft skills.

Amazon is a very customer-obsessed company. This definitely reflected within the company cohort and company atmosphere. The speakers are very inviting and interested in what everyone has to input. I would also say that the culture is very professional as well. There isn't a trade-off between the employees being professional and them giving the best experience to a customer. Amazon also prides itself in a very diverse and inclusive culture, where all in invited to a warm welcome. This is a very important aspect for me as I am an ethnic minority and always look to apply for companies that place huge importance on this.

I really enjoyed the event. I would say that the part that I enjoyed the most was the coding sessions and the business leader talks. These sessions were directly impactful to my career prospects and gave me a lot of helpful tips and tricks on how I could make my application outstanding to employers in the future. I also liked how there was a session on soft skills; this is something that is quite overlooked by employees working in a corporate company however Amazon likes to place an importance on it.

Yes

I would say to be yourself, bring your true self to the interview and people will appreciate that. Also, make sure you know exactly what role you are applying to, make sure you know all the job role requirements and fulfill them prior to your application. If you are applying to a tech role, focus on quick coding questions and learn a few facts about object-oriented programming. Make sure to ask the right questions and do not pass up on opportunities to understand more about what the company is asking for.