Appetizers

Starting with some basics.

 Fun Starters

Getting to know the human side.

 Main Course

A quick deep dive into the day-to-day job.

Tell us about yourself and your job.

I was a student who was always drawn to science and math and chose to become a computer engineer since I thought it was the easiest way to make things. Now as a software engineer, I am constantly designing and fixing the infrastructure that makes Alexa operate.

Within my team, we control the small portion of the entire Alexa system that is in charge of local business recommendations. With this responsibility comes a lot of fun computer science problems such as supporting new areas of the world, increasing the usefulness of recommendations, and making sure it works for millions of requests a day.

How did you end up in your field? What do you like about it?

I ended up in computer science by accident. I knew I wanted to be some sort of an engineer out of high school since I loved making things. CS aligned really well with that passion since the entry cost of building anything CS-related is really just time and knowledge. I love the freedom, growth, and independence of my field.

What does a typical morning look like on the job?

Every 2 weeks we get assigned work for the "sprint" (a 2 week work period). As long as you make it to all important meetings and finish all the work of the sprint the rest of the hours and routine is up to you. Especially now since it is all work from home. For me, I do all my productive programming work in the morning (9:00 AM-noon) and we have a half-hour team meeting at 11:00 AM.

Cool, then what does a typical afternoon look like?

I usually exercise over lunch and then for the rest of the day it is either continuing on sprint work or meetings. Some typical tasks would be fixing bugs, designing a new part of the service, or helping a coworker in a field you are an expert in.

What types of projects and meetings are you involved in?

The work of a developer in the sprint model is very independent and self-motivated. So think of setting your own hours and freedom/flexibility as long as the work is completed. All work is project-based as all tasks are part of some larger team goal or project. Typical meetings are design reviews, stand-ups (short updates from the entire team), and teaching sessions.

Who do you collaborate with within meetings and projects?

A lot of collaboration with the TPM (technical product manager), UX (user experience), and other coworkers. Everyone has specific roles, and the role of the dev is to implement and design requirements given by the TPM. UX helps with the final product and customer-facing portion of the goal. I love working with both, it gives a much better diversity of ideas than just working with other devs.

 Dessert

Now for some juicy insights in the tea room.

What's the most challenging thing about your job?

On-call, it just sucks but it is part of the job I guess... It is when you can be awoken 24/7 for a week to fix problems arising in the service your team works on. Really wish tech companies had specialized jobs just for handling on-call tasks.

What are some characteristics that can help someone succeed in your role?

Self-motivated, good writing skills (able to convey difficult concepts in a digest-able manner), patience, curiosity

Any advice on how to stand out and get hired for those just starting off?

Leetcode is your best friend for interview prep, make sure you ALWAYS network with peers and recruiters, get referrals for all jobs you apply for.

What's something that surprised you about your job?

The independence and responsibility. Less than 6 months into the job I am now leading the design and development of a new sister service that is expected to handle about 10x of our normal traffic.

Any last thoughts, advice, or recommendations for someone who wants to do what you do?

Don't give up, keep the big picture in mind when things get rough, and keep asking all the stupid questions you can think of.

 Drinks

Chat more over coffee or tea?