Amazon Principal Engineer On Layoffs, Interviewing & Career Growth | Steve Huynh

Steve Huynh became a software engineer at Amazon with a Liberal Arts degree. He started as a Support Engineer and eventually became a Principal Engineer (top ~1% at Amazon) before starting his own career growth YouTube channel, A Life Engineered.

We discuss:
• Why most interview prep advice is garbage
• Why most people don’t become Principal Engineers
• Amazon’s performance-based layoff culture
• How to avoid being laid off
• Regrets & advice for his younger self

Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(00:37) Transitioning from liberal arts to tech
(06:31) Becoming a software development engineer
(17:37) Breaking into the tech industry today
(22:56) Future of software engineering with AI
(26:06) SDE1 → SDE3 promos
(33:11) Perf-based Layoffs at Amazon
(46:22) His Principal promotion project
(59:53) Best parts of Amazon's culture
(1:05:22) His best and worst managers among 20+
(1:09:09) Career reflections

Where to find Steve:
• Newsletter: alifeengineered.substack.com/
• YouTube:    / @alifeengineered  
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/a-life-engineered/
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/alifeengineered/

Where to find Ryan:
• Newsletter: www.developing.dev/
• X: x.com/ryanlpeterman
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/
• Threads: www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman