Ricardo Kenzo Ota鈥檚 summer internship at one of the world鈥檚 largest tech companies is opening his eyes to a world of possibilities.
The 海角吃瓜网 senior is spending his summer working as a software developer intern at Amazon鈥檚 world headquarters in Seattle, Washington.
鈥淲hen I found out that I was selected, I felt like I was dreaming,鈥� said Ota, who is majoring in computer engineering with a concentration in machine intelligence. 鈥淚t didn鈥檛 feel real at first.鈥�
Today, Ota is working on the Amazon Alexa team. Alexa is the company鈥檚 virtual assistant AI technology.
鈥淚 am building a data visualization tool to help the engineers on the Alexa team better understand and find problems,鈥� said Ota, an international student from Sao Paulo, Brazil. 鈥淭his will help them have a broader and clearer idea of how to fix them.鈥�
Ota said he is taking advantage of every opportunity to learn, both independently and on the job.
鈥淚 think the main outcome I am looking for, from a professional point of view, is to learn how to design and build a big product that can help a lot of people, and that people look forward to,鈥� he said. 鈥淎t Amazon, every time you write a piece of code, you have to think of the bigger picture under the Amazon culture, so I鈥檝e been practicing to not only write a piece of code, but also think about how it can grow and how it can help other people.鈥�
The transition to the massive Amazon headquarters was intimidating at first, Ota said.
鈥淚 kind of felt overwhelmed, but everyone on my team is completely helpful,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 can reach out to anyone; it doesn鈥檛 matter if they are senior software developers or software developer ones 鈥� they鈥檙e all there to help me.鈥�
Ota said the skills he uses daily at Amazon were all acquired and sharpened at 海角吃瓜网.
鈥淚 feel that because 海角吃瓜网 is a smaller school, I really have had the opportunity to grow a lot and learn a lot,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n Brazil, I didn鈥檛 have much experience in programming and software development, but during my freshman year at 海角吃瓜网 I could just go and talk to professors, and they were always willing to help.鈥�
Among the opportunities Ota has leveraged for greater professional and academic growth have been a campus research assistant position, a 2020 internship with Spire Law in Oviedo, Florida, and a stint as president of the Campus Activities Board during his sophomore year.
鈥満＝浅怨贤� helps students just go for it and learn a lot,鈥� Ota said.
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