I fell in love with Amazon during my college internship. It was my first big tech experience. My mentor and manager were excellent, and I thrived. I worked really hard and loved every second of it. I loved using Python and the Brazil build system. Learning from senior engineers and attending the Principals of Amazon talks thrilled me. Those lunches from Specialty’s by Lake Union, the warm sun on my face, are something I’ll always remember. I felt like I was a part of something bigger than myself. I truly believed in the company motto: Work Hard, Have Fun, Make History.
I’ll never forget the applause when I gave that final internship feature demo. I felt so proud to get the return offer, and I couldn’t wait to wrap things up at school so I could come back full time.
But the Amazon I interned at was not the one I came back to.
I ended up joining a different team in a different org. I didn’t realize it at the time, but we employees were now being pitted against one another. Promotion and retention were zero-sum games which only a few of us could survive. This wasn’t like my internship at all.