Recently I’ve gone dark because I’ve been moving across the country to take a position at Amazon! Turns out Amazon has internal game studios and services and after meeting with some of the folks on the team I decided it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. My official title is something like Core Game Engineer, but I can’t talk about the details yet.
Seattle has been really pleasant though I hear it becomes overcast from fall through spring. For now we’re soaking up the sun and spending as much time out doors as we can. Amazon has many buildings downtown and is constantly building more including the soon-to-be skyscraper in this picture. They also have a shuttle system running all day so you can go between the various buildings. As a new recruit I had to go all over to attend orientation classes, pick up equipment and go to meetings.
Another new thing for me was riding the bus every day. You may not know this, but Seattle has the worst rush hour traffic and one way to not deal with it is to ride the bus. Amazon provides employees a free transportation (ORCA) card to get around by bus, light rail, and even water taxi! Initially, I was living in Redmond and it took about an hour to get to work each day by bus.
I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff at the bus stops and on some buses.
My office building isn’t visible in this picture that I took from the Space Needle, it’s behind the tall apartment building in the middle. So yeah, I work a few blocks from the Space Needle and walk under the monorail everyday. The real bonus is my walk takes me by Top Pot Donuts every day.
We have since moved to West Seattle, and my commute time is half as long as it was. I can also ride the water taxi if I want during my commute. We’ve also done some hiking and exploring around Mount Rainier and have plans to go west to the Olympic mountains sometime. I feel blessed by God to get to experience all this with my family and hope that I will continue to grow here.
At the very least, I expect I shall have a much more refined taste in coffee.