A Day in the Life of an Amazon Software Engineer

Okay, I just got to the office and I have a jam-packed day ahead. Definitely keep watching because this is going to be a really fun video. It's not your ordinary day in the life. Ooh, Disney! I'm happy with that. So I'll never leave here? You'll leave at 5. Well, actually, they stagger exits, so 5.15. I have no choice. Well, every time you find yourself here, it's because you chose to come back. As we all know, Amazon is a massive company and there are so many teams working on all sorts of things. In Vancouver, we have the AWS teams and we also have, like, finance teams here. I personally work on their financial accounting team. My organization builds tools for the financial accountants so that they can make sense of all the transactions that flow through Amazon every single day. There's a lot of different types of transaction lines and a lot of accounting jargon, which I won't go into now because it's honestly a lot. My organization has teams in Vancouver, Seattle, and also India. The kind of person that thrives on our team is probably someone who is able to pick up the accounting terms really quickly. There is a lot to learn and it's quite specific, so honestly, I found it pretty challenging to learn all the accounting jargon in the first few months. And generally, I would say that my org has pretty great work culture. It's not super demanding and fast-paced. I think the vibe of my org is pretty chill, relaxed. We have a snack wall, we have very cool team events, and everyone is really, really nice. A few months into my Amazon internship, my manager transferred to Seattle. But before he left, I remember him joking at a team meeting and asking, how much time do you have left here to all the engineers? And a bunch of the people on my team replied, I'm just waiting for my permanent residence or my citizenship and then I'm going to start applying to the States. It was funny because everyone had this timeline for leaving Canada for America. And also, a lot of my friends from my Amazon internship now work in the States. And out of my friends from Amazon, I'm one of the only ones who stayed behind in Canada. And I'm still trying to figure out if I should go. Right now, it is freezing in the office right now. I don't know why it's so cold, like my hands are so cold. I probably shouldn't have gotten an iced Hojicha latte, but I am so cold. I like to switch up my location when I'm working in the office a lot because I get really bored sitting at my desk and I also get really sleepy just when I stay in one spot. I really like the booths that are in the Vancouver offices and I like sitting in it because it feels really cozy. There are several Vancouver Amazon offices, I think about like four or five. I don't think I've even been to all of them, but they all have a very similar open layout design and they have these like dividers between the desks. And I think most of them have like a really big cafeteria. And all of them have like beautiful views of the mountains, of the cities. I don't think one building has like a really ugly view. I've also been to the Toronto and Tokyo Amazon offices. Both of them were really nice, but I don't think the views in each of those buildings were as nice as the ones in Vancouver. As for Seattle, I've only been to Seattle like a few times in the last few years and I haven't actually been inside the Seattle Amazon office. It looks really nice. I stood outside like this sphere where it has all the plants and stuff. Apparently it has like one plant from like everywhere in the world. I really want to go check it out because it looks really cool. From what I heard, it's just blocks and blocks of the Amazon offices in Seattle. And I think that's pretty funny because I feel like everyone you see down there is going to be someone who works at Amazon. Between us, I don't really see myself staying at Amazon or even in big tech for that matter. So just internally transferring to the U.S. at Amazon wouldn't necessarily give me the change that I'm looking for. I think I'm looking for something completely new, a different pace, a different experience. And I haven't really talked about it much, but I have been job searching. No one tells you how stressful job searching is while you're working full time. You finish your workday and then you still have to update your resume, do those dreadedly code questions, prepare for interviews, all without really mentioning it at work. It honestly feels like I have a second job that I have to keep a secret. And at this time, I'm not just applying to every software engineering job I can find. I'm trying to be a lot more intentional because I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do next. So as you probably know, for the past few months, I've started job searching. I've been looking for different opportunities in the tech industry that aren't exactly software engineering roles. I've done a lot of research on this and I even started a series on Instagram. You can check it out here about all the different roles that people didn't actually know existed that are in tech. And Indeed is partnering with me to help test this because sometimes the hardest part about finding your next job is not really knowing what to search for. For my next role, I'd still like to code, but also be creative and work with people across different teams and maybe have contribute to the product more. So what I did was create my Indeed profile and update it with my experience and skills. Then I filled out my profile preferences, which includes where do I want to work, do I want to be remote or not, and the type of work I actually want to do. And then I made my profile searchable so employers can find me as well. And based on my background and preferences, I got recommended these types of roles, which were different from software engineering roles. And honestly, this has made starting over feel a lot less intimidating because I know that my experience still transfers over to other roles in the tech industry. Be sure to visit Indeed's YouTube channel for some more job searching advice. And now back to the video. What are you doing tonight? Well, homework and then homework. And if I get all that done in time, some homework. Last summer, a few of my friends came up to visit Vancouver. They also work at Amazon just in the States. And at some point, the conversation turned to salaries. They asked me, like, how much I was making. And then there was a pause and they asked, wait, in Canadian? And after some discussion, we realized there was about a hundred grand difference in our salaries at the same company, the same job, same role. Just one was across the border and one was in Canada. It kind of feels like the grass is really greener on the other side. I actually understood more clearly why people would leave the first time I went to San Francisco. Everyone there was either building a startup, working on one or trying to figure out how to start one. I'm not even exaggerating, but I don't think I met one person who wasn't doing something in tech. I would be sitting in a coffee shop and both tables next to me would be talking about their product. And then I flew home and realized how different the Vancouver culture is. I'm going to lunch right now with Anna. I'm just going to go to the grocery store to pick up some food because I think she already packed her lunch. Yeah, snowboarding. Oh my god, I borrowed my friend's snowboard. Yeah. And it was, like, so much easier snowboarding first. Why? I'm not bad at snowboarding. I think it's just my snowboard. Wait, what's wrong with your snowboard? It's just the margin of error is too thin. Have you skied before? I prefer snowboarding, but skiing is easier. But the boots are so uncomfortable. Right? Yeah, that's why I don't like skiing. Yeah, I don't think you should do that. No? I'm learning to learn myself. Unmatch batch processor glue job that I need to work on and then submit the testing for that. Um, okay, yeah, so... So I do want to experience that energy because it sounds really motivating. Honestly, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this because I love Vancouver. I grew up in Canada. My family's here. And I just feel like it's really sad that Canada produces so many amazing talented people, but they're not able to retain them. There aren't many other companies competing for the same engineers. So it's harder to find a completely different role without accepting lower compensation or fewer opportunities. Especially now with AI, it feels like there's so much that's happening in the States that I can only watch from a distance. And you know what? Maybe at the end of the day, I move there and realize I prefer Vancouver's slower pace. But I'm scared that if I never try, I'll always wonder if there's something else that was better for me. So if you're a Canadian in tech, let me know in the comments down below. Are you thinking of staying or leaving? I had a really crappy night. I really, really need a cup of coffee. I want to talk about what it's actually like to live in Vancouver because I've lived here my whole life. Vancouver is a very multicultural city. My parents are immigrants, and a lot of people here are from different countries. And I think that a lot of people use Vancouver as kind of a stepping stone to get to America. I know that a lot of people I work with eventually want to go to America. Obviously, you get paid a lot more in America. And also, there's just a lot more career opportunities there. If you just look at the job postings in Vancouver versus a city like Seattle, you will see huge differences. There are so many more companies working in Seattle, and there's so many more hirings. Obviously, it's going to be a little bit more challenging to get a visa from Canada to work in the States. But out of all the countries, Canada is probably the easiest because you can go and work there on a TN. And I would definitely say there are some subtle differences between Americans and Canadians. And I really noticed it during my internship when we had some of the American interns come up to Vancouver so we could do an info session together. From the American interns that I talked to, they were so confident and so ambitious. And I felt like they had this energy that the world is their oyster. And I'm mostly speaking for myself, but I feel like as a Canadian, I don't have as much ambitious nature as certain Americans do. I would say, generally speaking, as a Canadian, we're more focused on work-life balance and more community. And I feel like in America, it's very career-oriented. There is a lot of talk about being self-made and starting your own business and really going out there and getting it. I mean, that's where the word American dream comes from. Everyone there works very hard and I think, generally speaking, the work culture embodies that. And it's definitely a little bit more intense than it is here. But I will say, every interaction that I have with Americans is kind of funny to me because sometimes it feels like they think that they're the only country that exists. I remember when I was little, I was on this cruise and I met this girl. She became my best friend and she was from Florida. And when I told her that I was from Canada, she was convinced that I lived in Igloo. She thought all Canadians live in the snow and Igloo. And I was like, no girl, I live in a house. It probably doesn't look that much different from yours. And recently, I went out to dinner with some Americans and one of them asked if Canadians celebrate Christmas. I just thought that was very interesting because it's just like, it's not that much different, you know? A majority of Canadians live in like five major cities, probably not more than like three hours away from the border. Like we don't live that far from each other, just so you know. We're very similar. It's not that much different. But they seem to think we're just this quaint little city. We're like super cute, like, oh, Canadians, it's so cute that you live in Canada. I love your language. Let me know what you think about this down below as a Canadian. You know, everyone has like their own preferences. Hello, I'm at the restaurant. I'm just waiting for my friends to come. I'm really excited because I'm going to be giving them some gifts. Let me show you. I've been giving all my friends these keychains because I think they're so cute. They're like little kitties wrapped in blankets. And I have like four of them because we're like a little quadruple group. So they can choose the one they like. I'm so excited. Look how cute they are. Yeah, let's go in and get some dinner right now. I can't sleep. I can't turn my mind off. It keeps running and thinking and making lists. Oh man, I'm so completely stressed. I can't remember what I'm doing from one moment to the next.