First week at Amazon.com

As I wind up an exciting first week some first impressions about the earth's most customer centric company. Ok, so we have a distinct technology intiative here at Amazon and dont like to be viewed as just an online retailer ... Amazon focusses a lot on self-learning and the wealth of intranet resources bears testimony to that. One thing that I really liked was a neat collection of how-to guides for new hires. The 4 hour long orientation too got off to an unusual start with a trivia about company facts .. We were smartly told that there are coveted prizes for grabs but we knew that it was all in good spirits .. All the teams ended up being winners .. as if that wasnt planned ..

I was received very warmly by my rather young manager .. he treated me to a lunch in PacMed cafe after which we set off for US1 (my office location) .. I got introduced to a whole bunch of young software professionals from the various teams working under Fulfillment Center Systems team .. I was all set with a laptop and a Linux dev desktop at my disposal .. I started perusing the vast amount of online materials that were available for me to get started .. few things that did not meet my expectations ... employee discounts suck bigtime !! why so? If you read our company policy it clearly underlines the fact that frugality is one of our core competencies .. I understand that from a customer perspective but it is rather difficult to digest from an employee perspective .. so I convinced myself not to be disappointed if there was no free food on offer .. We do enjoy free caffeine though .. well it works to increase the productivity of employees after all .. so that they can make us work for long hours .. At Amazon, we believe in raising the bar and hence there is a lot of emphasis on hiring quality resources .. Amazon invests a lot in hiring initiatives and in interviewing candidates .. Conveniently located in the beautiful
Seattle downtown, Amazon does seem to be an exciting place to launch one's career .. there is a lot to learn and gain from the expertise of principal engineers over here .. I realised that I have already spent a lot of hours in the office than usual .. This is just a precursor of things to come .. as I have fully understood that software development is not just about coding .. it involves an SDE to participate write from inception to providing production support.. phew .. only if things could get any easier ..

The beginning or the end

The week gone by was an eventful one in more ways than one. The ensuing war in South lebanon between the Hezbollah and Israeli Defense Forces sees no end in sight and casualties on both sides of the border continue to mount. Sometimes if you think rationally one feels why should there be war in the first place .. Isnt human life too precious to be sacrificed in an insane battle for supremacy ; as if the potential threat posed by natural calamities were non-existent. Unfortunately each mortal doesnt think the same way ... Today there is a threat of suicide terrorists (Jehadis) .. these radical Islamists can sacrifice their lives in the name of religion .. Intelligence forces still have no traces of hunting down Osama Bin Laden... he continues to evade all the intelligence and who knows is plotting the next big attack on his enemies ..

The alleged plot to blow up 10 airplanes mid-air between US and UK was thwarted recently due to some timely action. Apparently, liquid explosives carried in on-board luggage was suspected to be the next weapon of sky terror. One wonders if air travel is still a safe way to commute as unseemingly inocuous objects can assume potentially dangerous proportions...

The world is no longer a safe place to live .. I fail to understand where all this is leading to .. Isnt our generation ever going to feel secured ? As technology improves, so does the threat to society .. There are so many yet undiscovered training camps in Pakistan that are operating secretly ...
Ominous signs of another world war breaking out is not too difficult to perceive .. yet we all continue to survive amidst our insecure existence ..

The end of an enjoyable vacation

As I look back on my not so distant past, I wonder whether these times would come back to me again ... In more ways than one this has been a good summer ... I finished my defense way earlier than I planned and that meant I had enough free time on my hands to truly explore this vast country. I met some friends on the east coast and en route to Seattle which was kinda nice ... I arrived in Seattle on 17th July, three weeks before my starting date at Amazon.com .. In hindsight it looks like it was neatly planned as it provided me enough opportunities to explore the neighbourhood ... If you visit a new city, first thing one must do is pick up a walking map and start roaming to get a sense of the spread of the city which is exactly what I decided ... To accompany me was a very supportive father who I must say made things simpler ... We did some serious apartment hunting together although I made him run around a lot for his age. I feel I know this place really well now ... I am glad that I took an apartment with a view although I had to pay a price for it !!! Living in downtown has a charm of its own. I have been living in peaceful co-existence far away from the hustle and bustle that city life has to offer which was perfect for say a student like me. Now I feel that I should experience urban living and that prompted me to shake off my monetary fears and made me decide on a relatively bold option .

Courtesy corporate housing offered through Amazon.com, I got to reside in an awesome location. "A room with a view"... it truly could not have been better than what I had. In a way, it made me fixated on this idea of how important a view was to my blissful existence. I was willing to pay a price for it and left no stone unturned in checking out every possible view on offer.

As for some lighter moments, we (dad included) did take a harbor cruise on Elliot Bay and Puget Sound along with my "I-m-still-so-young" aunt, Reshma. The Seattle skyline looked spectacular from a distance. The beauty about a place like Seattle is the vast amount of water bodies it is surrounded by. It really makes for a picturesque drive and I would highly recommend taking a route from downtown Seattle to Bellevue/Redmond for a driver's delight on a warm afternoon. On a clear sunny afternoon, the view of Mt. Rainier breaking the limits of the horizon is indeed unparalleled.

After having had so much fun under the sun, it is time I realise my purpose in life and retire to the mundane 9 to 5 job. I am certainly excited to join Amazon but just cant get myself ready for the first day. From a certain perspective, I feel this time off has done me a world of good .. It has set me up for my challenges ahead in the right frame of mind.

I realise the deficiency of pictures in my posts and it is time to ramp up the collection as they say .. "A picture is worth a thousand words !!!"

Sunny Seattle on a pleasant summer afternoon
















Views of Mt Rainier in background