Amazing Amazon Internship for Engineering Technology Student
March 11, 2019
Last fall, a contingent of six Amazon Design Leaders was on campus to conduct the Amazon Design Challenge. Twenty students from eight disciplines in the Schools of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Business, and Engineering Technology competed for cash prizes, tackling an assignment that Amazon described this way: “Conceptualize a new community experience. By understanding our brand, our technology offerings, and the breadth and potential of our audience, students should explore where they feel the next valuable thriving community experience is headed, and how Amazon plays a role in that experience.”
Mark Drobnjak ’20, an electrical and computer engineering technology major, was one of the students who accepted the challenge, and while his team didn’t win the big bucks, this summer he is embarking on a journey that no amount of money could buy: an internship at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters.
“I would love a career with Amazon,” Drobnjak said. “There are plenty of reasons why an aspiring engineer would want to work for a huge tech company, but after the personal connection I had with some of their leaders and learning more about the company’s impact and values, Amazon became a top choice. They own some of the most exciting technologies in the world. Their leadership and design principles are spot on. I would like nothing more than to be a part of a team that holds themselves to those standards.”
Encouraged to participate in the Challenge by Dr. Bahar Zoghi, acting assistant dean of the School of Engineering Technology, Drobnjak particularly enjoyed partnering with students from different disciplines.
“I applied to the design challenge for the opportunity to collaborate with other talents from Farmingdale, and the mentors from Amazon. The most valuable part of teamwork is the fact that you can combine the strengths of a diverse group of individuals. Even having a team of two people makes you more well-rounded in terms of your skill set and allows you to have fresh perspective.”
Drobnjak’s team’s project was called Day 1+. Because of a confidentiality agreement with Amazon, he is not able to share the content of that entry, but he said, “It ended up in a place we never expected. It was one of the boldest designs anyone on our team has worked on. It was great to be in that mental space – imagining that we have all of Amazon’s current and future technologies at our disposal, and we can solve a real and fundamental human problem related to loneliness and community.”
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