One thing I’ve really enjoyed at Amazon thus far is the
level of access we’ve had to senior levels of leadership. I know I’ve touched
on this previously, but we just had an intern dinner yesterday where we were
free to mingle around with directors and VPs. Of course, by mingle, I meant “ask strategic questions so that I know where
the firm will be in 5-7 years”. Trust me when I say that the senior leadership
here is smart and sharp, yet they remain very approachable and are eager to
answer whatever difficult questions that get lobbed their way. Apart from
Kindle-specific questions, which are under the usual ‘I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you’ levels of secrecy.
In fact, the Kindle VP told me that if I had a great idea, all I had to do was
to write up a one-page document and send it directly to him and he’d review it
for consideration. How many firms have the resources, openness and flexibility
to make that happen?
Another great thing about Amazon is the number of MBA
interns we have here. With more than 150 of us here, there’s no shortage of
people to meet and beers to chug. It’s always interesting to get different
perspectives from the other interns, with everybody having their own war
stories to share over a good time at the bar. After all, there’s nothing like
washing down a week of hard work with a frothy pint of Weissbier. Mmm, beer.
It’s also worth mentioning that the weather has truly turned
for the better – the real summer has finally arrived, albeit a good month later
than what I’d been led to believe. What that means is that short sleeves and shorts
(well, not for the manager interns anyway – we’re too classy for that) are back
in season. Hopefully that’ll hold till the end of my stay here as I still need
to check the ‘hike up Mount Rainier’ box off my summer checklist.
Finally, if you’re an avid mobile gamer with a Kindle Fire,
keep your eyes peeled for GameCircle, an all-new gaming experience that enables
achievements, leaderboards and game synchronization to add an additional layer
of fun and socialization to your favorite mobile games on the Kindle Fire. If
you are a mobile game developer, hop on over to http://amazon.com/gamecircle to learn how
you can build these exciting new features into your games today.
Yes, I had the snake and it was tasty.
Some seafood, yesterday.
Meals on wheels.
No comments:
Post a Comment