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 selfTimestamps:(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 reflectionsWhere to find Steve:• Newsletter: https://alifeengineered.substack.com/• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ALifeEngineered• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/a-life-engineered/• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alifeengineered/Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman To hear more, visit www.developing.dev