Episodes With AWS Builders (tech & non-tech): Part 2

Welcome to AWSome Recruiter Friends Take 5 and thank you to our guests that have invested time with us to share your experiences.?Ray & Jenna are recruiters with AWS that started this initiative to showcase an unfiltered perspective of what it is like to work at AWS and some of the amazing talent behind the scenes.?

These videos are bite sized candid chats capturing insights from recruiters, leaders, and builders.?The conversations are unscripted so that viewers can experience the authenticity of these stories.?Our goal is to virtualize hallway chats or kitchen encounters while grabbing a coffee.?In about five minutes (most go a little longer) you will get to know a lot about what the they do professionally and who they are personally; and may even be surprised by some unique hobbies and hurdles some have overcome.?We hope you enjoy and it helps you feel a little more connected to our culture and people.?#BePeculiar

Builders:?Builders look around corners to surprise & delight customers.?They are tinkers and solutionist’s with a high learn & be curious ability so they can keep up with innovation and changing technology.?Builders are both technical and not technical to include building processes, programs, and businesses. (This article is about our builders and you can see an article for leaders & recruiters)

Leaders:?Leaders are also builders, but builders of teams.?They recognizes exceptional talent and foster relationships for career development.?They take their role as a coach very seriously and put in place mechanisms to ensure employee success.

Recruiters:?Our recruiters are candidate advocates and business partners to the hiring managers.?They coach candidates through the process and guide hiring teams to use processes that are fair but rigorous.?They ensure both sides have a positive experience!?

Episode 3:?Mirza Nizamuddin, Sr. Solutions Architect – Space & Satellite While Mirza is an experience architect with 20 years of experience, he is on a team that keeps him learning every day and he is thankful for his team’s help.?He said he feels like he is on an episode of Start Trek journeying to the stars with his customers & partners.?When he is not working, he enjoys traveling, photography, and motorcycle riding.?

Episode 10:?Matt Kotowsky, Sr. Global Solutions Architect – Financial Services Hear about Matt’s unique interview experience and the thought he put into joining us.?He turned the tables to interviewer his offers for two roles at AWS and one externally.??

Episode 11: Srikanth Sopiral, Principal Specialist Solutions Architect – Analytics Srikanth describes what it means to be a Principal Solutions Architect.?He is not only helping his customers innovate and go to market faster but he is also creating mechanisms to scale, mentor others, and evangelize by speaking at conferences & meet ups.?He shares a quick use case and talks about how he destresses by riding his bike for miles in the wee hours of the morning so he can capture beautiful sun rises.??

Episode 14:?Rashmi Varshney, Sr. Solutions Architect Rashmi comes from a deep analytics background and was on the client side.?She shares her passion for learning and her decision to move into a generalist role so that she can broaden her technical experience.?You’ll also hear briefly how recruiters worked together to find her another role when timing was not on her side first try as well as a little about her experience being a female in a primarily male dominated field.?When she is not working she enjoys traveling and being in nature.?

Episode 18:?Prasanth Ponnoth, Sr. Solutions Architect – Financial Services We caught up with Prasanth only four months into him joining AWS.?He shares about his onboarding experience that include onboarding buddies.?The AWSome builder program has allowed him to learn the breadth & depth of our services and architecture ways to help customers.?In a short time, he is learning, solving, and making new friends!?On his personal time he helps kids learn his native language in a fun filled setting.

Episode 20:?Justin Staples, Principal Security Advisor Justin talks about how his new role with AWS has given him a broader view and scope of responsibility.?As a Principal Security Advisor, he is helping transform processes & capabilities and leveraging best practices to unify standards & simplify requirements that manage risk for customers so they can pursue opportunities that are most meaningful for their businesses.?By partnering as a member of the team he is learning and helping AWS continue to innovate so that we can impact many more customers secure safe capabilities.?He is also very brave to spend time in the Maasai Mara with lions!?

Episode 27:?Aaron Lima, Principal Prototyping Solutions Architect In six years with AWS Aaron talks about the gamut of roles and transitions he has made.?With a focus on learning & being curious and through our mentorship program, he has also seen others do similar.?While he has worn many hats, his most recent role is in prototype solutions architecture where he is accelerating value by helping customers see the art of the possible of specific use cases.??He also is firm on setting boundaries for balance.?Outside of work, he is in the kitchen baking and cooking sharing that fresh pasta is one of his family favorites.??

Episode 28:?Shelley Fleming, Enterprise Inside Sales Account Manager Shelley is our first non-tech builder.?She connects with customers daily to understand business objectives and then reverse engineers to achieve their goals.?We get into a discussion about our working backwards approach and how we use mechanisms such a writing to move faster.??She personally feels empowered to create space for work/life harmony and shares some tips on how she organizes herself to dedicate time for tasks.?When she is not working she nerds out on wine, reading, and DIY projects.?

Episode 31:?Eric Waldo, Sr. Customer Solutions Manager Eric discusses how his military background gave him the leadership skills to transition into a corporate role and provides clarity on the Customer Solutions Manager function.?CSM’s are the glue that holds together teams.?They have technical acumen, program management skills and represents the customer to ensure successful cloud migration journeys. There are many unique and diverse skills sets that have been able to transition into this role.