Amazon Discover: Spring Insight Participant Review

Covered a series of topics within the workshops, such as information on Amazon's hiring practices and the interviewing process, what the everyday life of one of their software engineering employee's is like and a panel focusing on the employees and information regarding Amazon's culture and values, this had a focus on affinity groups and the diversity on the company. There was also several technical workshops based on coding exercises that might be faced in an interview.

Yes, I have developed a far more in depth ability within coding and debugging, specifically through the debug bingo exercise and hash table exercises, which focusing on increasing program speed and efficiency. My collaboration abilities with others have also vastly increased, as we had several group / duo exercises that encouraged communication and collaboration between us. I feel more comfortable sharing my ideas with others now. Furthermore we also had a in depth discussion on the interviewing practices and common errors made in interviews.

There was a lot of information on the various different roles and careers within amazon, and how I might achieve those careers. I found this section very useful and it helped me gainer a deeper insight into what potential roles I would like to look into in later life. The business itself is clearly very welcoming and there are many ways to progress into a career even if you lack coding / computer science expertise, so it is very open.

The employees were very nice and clearly very enthusiastic. I found their opinions very informative. The company culture seems to be very welcoming to people from all walks of life and all backgrounds, which is very admirable. I especially thought that Amazon's many affinity groups were very interesting. It was also good to hear that the employer's will allow for time off in order to go and attend different conventions across the world.

I very much enjoyed the insight due the breadth and depth of the knowledge offered within the three day amazon insight placement. This was very useful and will be integral for advancing my career as both an intern and hopeful an eventual employee for amazon. The staff within the placement were very nice and encouraging, but also gave me necessary criticism in order to develop my abilities. I will be applying for an internship later on.

Yes

Amazon is a very welcoming company and will allow for people from all walks of life, all educational backgrounds and every different group. There are many opportunities for computer science and general students within the technology section, so applying for it is a very good idea. I would recommend researching the company in order to find a specific role that suits you best, but as a whole the tech force is a very good place to work in.