365 Day 1s and counting!

They say time really flies when you are having fun. It stands true for me, specially when I’m living my dream of working in my dream company. Here’s how my first year of working at Amazon Web Services (AWS) looked like (views are personal).

• Leadership Principles: Everyone who interviews for a role at Amazon is aware of the peculiar culture of ‘Leadership Principles’ (LPs). But when you join the company, you realize they are much more than just a guide for hiring. They become a north star to guide you in the right direction, and you will find them in daily conversations with your colleagues. Not only that, some LPs like ‘ownership’, ‘bias for action’, and ‘customer obsession’ have now become a part of my personality and a way of life.
• The entrepreneurial spirit and freedom to innovate: When I joined AWS, I was given a blank canvas to paint how I want it to be. I was encouraged to think big and experiment, even if that came with a risk of failure. You get to work like an entrepreneur and make your own decisions, which is truly liberating. I remember working on developer stories which was the first of a kind project globally, in AWS, and it received a phenomenal response internally and externally. When you give your heart and soul to something, and gets appreciated in return, your happiness knows no bounds.
• Fast pace: When I was interviewing at Amazon, one of my friends who has worked with Amazon in the past, mentioned that there’s an internal joke that if you have worked at Amazon for a year, it is equivalent to working for 5 years elsewhere. Little did I know that was true to its core. The learning curve and the growth opportunities are immense. I was working on multiple projects at the same time. The amount of work that I have done in the last year is actually equivalent to the amount of work I have done in my two previous companies. Did it get overwhelming? Yes, sometimes. But did I enjoy it? Yes, 100% because I learned from my experiments and grew quickly.
• Warm and welcoming team: I was scared and skeptical to join a new company in the middle of a global Pandemic. The virtual onboarding was adding to the angst. However, all my inhibitions were washed away the moment I got introduced to my team. I loved the concept of having an ‘onboarding buddy’ to make your transition smoother. I got lucky to have not just one, but many onboarding buddies who made sure I feel comfortable to adjust in the new environment. The folks in our Developer Relations and Marketing teams are a bunch of like-minded people who are big foodies and love to travel. No wonder, when I met them for the first time in the physical world outside of Chime window and Slack, it felt like meeting my best friends after a long time. Having a team with a mindset of ‘growing together’ instead of competing, is a big blessing in a corporate world these days. Of course, I had my share of bad days, but when you have supportive managers and an easily approachable leadership team, it made it a lot easier.
• Developer community connect: I say this often, and I will say this again. I got the BEST SET OF CUSTOMERS to work with. The passion and energy of our developer community is infectious. I’ve seen them go truly above and beyond to help their peers and engage with the community. I had some big shoes to fill when I joined this role, but their warm and welcoming attitude made it a breeze for me to connect with them, despite the challenges of a virtual world. There is so much to learn from them every day, and I can’t wait to meet them soon. Physical meet ups, here we come :) There is a lot happening with our developer communities in India and South Asia. If you are curious to know more about it and join us, here’s a quick guide for you from our super talented Developer Advocate, Rohini Gaonkar.

Fun Fact: This July, also marks my 10 years of working in a corporate world, and I couldn’t have asked for a better place to celebrate it with.

It’s always Day 1 at Amazon. Here’s to many more Day 1s and ‘Working hard, having fun and making history’. Thank you for reading.