Amazon

Project Overview

  • Duration: May 2019 - August 2019
  • Team: Engineering team in Consumer division
  • My role: Software Development Engineer Intern
  • Tools & Frameworks: Java, AWS

In the summer of 2019, I worked at Amazon's HQ in Seattle as a Software Engineer Intern. I got the opportunity to work on one of Amazon's new and unreleased projects at the time: the creation of Amazon Pharmacy!

Before I joined, Amazon had recently acquired PillPack, an online pharmacy service. My time at Amazon was spent helping them on the following tasks:

  • Working on the integration of PillPack into Amazon Pharmacy by improving the functionality and scalability of existing services utilizing AWS infrastructure.
  • Developing a pharmacy transportation AWS Fargate service utilizing ECS instances for the shipment of medications from fulfillment centers to customers.

I am unable to share a lot of the work I did publicly, but feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Reflections

Coming in with little knowledge about how to utilize AWS, I learned a lot this summer about how powerful and useful cloud computing and cloud storage is for any modern application. Perhaps the most interesting thing, however, was not the software that I learned but rather the business model and logic behind each design choice Amazon makes. When dealing with such large amounts of users and consumers, there are additional considerations one has to make in any given project that I had never even thought about during some of the smaller projects I have previously worked on.

Overall, I also really loved my summer in Seattle, and here are some of my most favorite moments from my summer in the Pacific Northwest:

  • Making an automated purchase at an Amazon Go store and working in the Amazon Spheres.
  • Attending the Paradiso Music Festival at the Gorge Amphitheatre, voted the best outdoor concert venue in the U.S.
  • Visiting Vancouver and getting to explore Stanley Park, Granville Market, and the Richmond Night Market.
  • Outdoor activities such as paddleboarding and kayaking on Lake Union to hiking up Lake Serene.
  • Amazon's Post-Primeday Concert at CenturyLink where I got to see Jeff Bezos, Lil Nas X, and Katy Perry live!