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Thomas Krause
CST300 Writing Lab
January 8th, 2018
Software Engineering Industry

Since the development of the first computer, they have been integrated into all facets of

our lives. Over the years, the usage of computers and technology has evolved. These events have

led to a variety of new technological fields and more businesses seeking to utilize their resources

effectively. This has led to the high demand of software developers. The Software Developer

designs and develops programs that run on computing devices. According to the Bureau of Labor

Statistics (2017), “Employment of software developers is projected to grow 24 percent from

2016 to 2026, much faster than the average for all occupations.”

Technology is on the rise, new devices and services are being offered every day. At their

core, they all have software in common. Apple, Google, and Amazon are three of the largest

organizations employing software developers today to provide these technology powered

services (Novinson, 2017). Apple is a well-known hardware manufacturer most notably for the

iPod, iPhone and Macintosh devices. These devices are personal computing devices that seek to

be easy to use, powerful, accessible, and fast. Apple also offers a variety of other devices.

Apple’s ability to be the hardware and software manufacturer allows them to produce a purpose

built device.

Apple is not alone. Google seeks to rival Apple in many areas. They developed Android

an operating system for smart phones and primary competitor to the iPhone. Regardless,

Google’s main flag ship product is a search engine for the internet that seeks to allow anyone to

easily find anything on the internet. In addition, Google offers a variety of web services that

make managing services on the internet a breeze. However, of these three there is one that stands

above the rest, Amazon.

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Amazon is best known as the world’s largest online retailer (Bukhari, 2017). The

company offers a large variety of services and products to consumers and businesses. The main

headquarters for Amazon is located in 33 office buildings in Seattle, Washington (Sisson, 2017).

This accounts for eight million square feet of space and has been dubbed Amazonia. Worldwide

the company has over 100 data centers, 140 fulfillment centers, and 541,900 employees

(Fiegerman, 2017). Amazon produced a total of 136 billion dollars in 2016 (Novinson, 2017).

Amazon is an ambitious company. Starting as an online retailer and progressing into all

aspects of consumer lives. At its core, the company puts the customer first and strives to solve

their needs. Amazon specializes in e-commerce where they have dominated the industry since

their inception. Keeping with the theme of customer first, they saw a demand for electronic

books and produced a line of devices called the Kindle. The hand-held devices make it easier

than ever to read a book on the go. In addition, Kindle has the ability to read the book aloud in a

computer voice. Amazon played a large part in the digitalization of the entertainment industry

with the release of Amazon Instant Video (Prime Video: Getting Started, n.d.). The service

delivers movies, TV shows, and even cable content directly over the internet to the customer’s

device. Alexa is a more recently developed device that seeks to provide a smart home

experience. It uses voice recognition and commands to perform different tasks around the house.

Alexa can turn the lights on and off, play media, place orders, provide directions, and much

more. More recently, Amazon has joined the grocery market with Fresh and the acquisition of

the Whole Foods Market Corporation (Investments, 2017). However, there is one service that

really solidifies Amazon’s place a top technical company, Amazon Web Services.

Amazon Web Services better known as AWS, originally started out as movement in the

organization to use their time more effectively. In 2000, the company found that, “Everyone was
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building their own resources for an individual project, with no thought to scale or reuse” (Miller,

2016). This was a real problem for an organization of this size seeking to rapidly expand their

product line. As Miller puts it, “Instead of an organized development environment, they had

unknowingly created a jumbled mess” (Miller, 2016). Management set out to address these

issues which meant overhauling the workflow and existing systems. When the process was

completed, the organization had developed a reusable infrastructure for any task. Miller refers to

this new infrastructure as an operating system for the internet (Miller, 2016). Miller quotes

Andrew Jassy, AWS CEO, saying (Miller, 2016):

We realized we could contribute all of those key components of that internet operating

system, and with that we went to pursue this much broader mission, which is AWS today,

which is really to allow any organization or company or any developer to run their

technology applications on top of our technology infrastructure platform.

It is at this point that the cloud computing movement was born with the release of AWS in 2006.

Today, cloud computing is a multi-billion dollar industry and a growing trend in the software

development industry.

Amazon’s history is one of transformation as it sought to expand. The company was

founded in 1994 by Jeffrey Bezos in Seattle, Washington. Originally it started out as an online

bookstore known as Cadabra (Hartmans, 2017). He chose to start as a bookstore due to the low

cost of books and the universal demand for them. Once the idea for the company was decided he

sought out investors which would include his parents. However, he faced a long and difficult

road ahead. The chances for failure were high, “Jeff had told his original investors there was a 70

percent chance they would lose their entire investment, but his parents signed on for $300,000, a

substantial portion of their life savings.” (“Jeffrey P. Bezos,” 2017). At first, the company was
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run out of a garage due to limited funds but eventually moved on to an office space as they

expanded. Development on the ecommerce platform started right away. Finally on July 16, 1995,

Amazon launched. The success that was achieved could not have been imagined, “In the first

month of its launch, Amazon had already sold books to people in all 50 states and in 45 different

countries.” (Hartmans, 2017). It was not long before Amazon went from the largest bookstore to

selling everything from A to Z. Since the founding of the company, it has evolved and become a

contender in all spaces. Much of this success can be attributed to Jeffrey’s view of the customer

and his core values. He shares these values in an interview, “Six Core Values: customer

obsession, ownership, bias for action, frugality, high hiring bar and innovation.” (“Jeffrey P.

Bezos”, 2017).

Jeffrey Bezos, is the only remaining original member of Amazon. He is the CEO and

board Chairman. Jeffrey was born on January 12th, 1964. He spent his childhood tinkering with

electronics and created a number of contraptions (“Jeff Bezos”, 2017). This interest later led him

to attend Princeton University for Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. In 1986, he

graduated summa cum laude. Not long after, he made his way to Wall Street where engineers

were in demand as investors tried to predict the market and make it more reliable. Here he

worked at several firms to include Fitel, Bankers Trust, and D.E Shaw. After a few years, he was

promoted to Vice President at D.E Shaw (“Jeffrey P. Bezos”, 2017). This made his sudden leave

of the financial industry an even greater surprise when he made the decision to quit and start

Amazon. This was a decision he put significant thought into but he saw untapped potential in e-

commerce during the rise of the internet (“Jeffrey P. Bezos”, 2017). A potential market that

turned out to be a huge success.

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After Jeffrey Bezos, the largest driving force in Amazon is Andrew Jassy. Andrew is the

current CEO of the AWS subsidiary and manager who saw the need for the workflow changes

that would evolve to become AWS. Andrew attended Harvard where he received a Bachelor’s

and Master’s degree in business (Bloomberg, n.d). He went on to found a marketing consulting

company in 1997 and also served as the Director of Coupa Software Inc. In 2002, he joined

Amazon as the Vice President and Technical Assistant. Not long after, the plan was formed at an

executive retreat that would become AWS. These events put in motion a phenomenon that would

change the world of computing as we know it.

Since a vast majority of the public regularly purchase from Amazon, they are very wildly

known by most. Especially in the software development industry, the services provided by AWS

are renowned and widely adopted. According to the Reputation Institute, Amazon has been

ranked first for overall company reputation making them first the third year in a row

(Nickelsburg, 2016). Amazon is very much in the public eye and the most well-known global

presence.

The software engineering industry is bigger than ever and keeps evolving. Three of the

more recent developments are in high demand and are expected to lead the industry in the years

to come. These are software as a service or SaaS, machine learning, and big data ("Top 10

Technology Trends for 2018: IEEE Computer Society Predicts the Future of Tech", 2017).

Software as a service is a common way to offer software to customers. It provides the customer

access to software managed by the developer for a monthly fee. The software is consistently

updated and takes the strain of managing it off the technical staff of the organization using it. An

added bonus, is the reduction of large license fees to more affordable prices making the software

accessible to anyone. Big data is an umbrella term describing large amounts of user data such as
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user logs, product purchases, and movie preferences. The field seeks to provide insight into a

business’s users and how to market products toward them more effectively by understanding the

customer better. Machine learning is a form of artificial intelligence where a machine makes

decisions and learns to make better decisions based on data. It provides the ability to automate

tedious tasks while making the work produced seem like it was produced by a human. Use cases

for machine learning include analyzing trends, categorizing, image recognition, and more. AWS

recently released Rekognition which is a service that promises to identify people, text, scenes,

inappropriate content and activities in images and video (AWS, n.d.). While many companies are

starting to incorporate machine learning, it is still a growing field with endless potential.

There are many opportunities in the field and ways to enter it. Companies seek talented

individuals with at least a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field (Bureau of

Labor Statistics, 2017). However, the field is broad in topics and more specific needs may

require a more specialized candidate or experience. The programming language selected can

depend on a number of factors which also plays a part on the type of developer that is sought

after. Machine learning is typically best suited towards Python or Java (Hiscott, 2014). While

video games are most often programmed in C++ or Java (Hiscott, 2014). Together, these three

languages are some of the most common in the industry and can be used for a variety of

purposes.

For these reasons, attending a reputable program at a reputable university can kick start a

career in the industry. The Computer Science Online program at California State University

Monterey Bay (CSUMB) is one such program. The program teaches students to become

developers with the flexibility to learn remotely and at their own pace. This is a wonderful

opportunity for anyone with a fulltime job or looking to avoid commuting. The program boasts
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an impressive collection of primarily technical courses. These courses are designed to introduce

students to various technologies, best practices, and methodologies used in the industry. One

such course is CST 438: Software Engineering (“Program Structure & Courses”, n.d.). This

course focuses on the design and development of large scale systems as well as project

management (“Program Structure & Courses”, n.d.). Students work in teams to develop a real

world project and through this experience learn about the software development process used in

the field (“Program Structure & Courses”, n.d.). Another instrumental course in the program is

CST 370: Design and Analysis of Algorithms. This course focuses on efficiency and teaches

students vital techniques for designing efficient and complex algorithms that can be incorporated

into software programs (“Program Structure & Courses”, n.d.). In addition, the program fosters

relationships between the students by connecting them closely through teamwork. CSUMB

encourages community outreach and integrates it into the program to provide real life problems

and help to make the student a more well-rounded developer.

The author of this paper, is currently attending the program and will use the knowledge

gained to pursue his goal. This goal being a career in the Software Engineering field specifically

machine learning or game development. The program will add to his professional experience of

eight years in the engineering field. The years of experience have been obtained from the

employer Springs Charter Schools and multiple contract positions for firms such as eLink and

ThetaLabs. During these assignments, he gained a better understanding of what is important to

clients and customers from a business prospective. To include many areas of the field that were

unfamiliar prior. One area that stands out in the field is the use of machine learning in a web

content filter that is currently in development. The experience has made him familiar with

technologies utilized in large companies today. In addition, personal projects that have been
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completed by the author demonstrate the knowledge and skills required to enter the industry.

This experience in combination with the California State University Monterey Bay program will

provide him with a career in the desired industry.

Software Engineering is an industry that has been growing since its inception and is

showing no signs of stopping as companies adopt more software. Amazon is an example of a

diverse organization that has shaped the industry and represents what it offers. Researching this

company has helped me understand better the industry, the opportunities, and skills that are

required to have a successful career in the industry. The experience that I have obtained

combined with the program at CSUMB will ensure that I have the skills needed to be successful

in machine learning or game development.

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References

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https://aws.amazon.com/rekognition/

Bloomberg. (n.d.). Stocks. Retrieved January 09, 2018, from

https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=29275437&pri

vcapId=18749

Bukhari, J. (2017, April 5). Amazon Is Worth More Than Walmart, Costco, and Target

Combined. Retrieved January 10, 2018, from http://fortune.com/2017/04/05/amazon-

walmart-costco-target-market-cap/

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2017, October 24). Software Developers. Retrieved January 9, 2018,

from https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-

developers.htm

Fiegerman, S. (2017, October 26). Amazon now has more than 500,000 employees. Retrieved

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earnings/index.html

Hartmans, A. (2017, April 09). 15 fascinating facts you probably didn't know about Amazon.

Retrieved January 9, 2018, from http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-amazon-

history-facts-2017-4/#amazon-wasnt-the-companys-original-name-1

Hiscott, R. (2014, January 21). 10 Programming Languages You Should Learn Right Now.

Retrieved January 19, 2018, from http://mashable.com/2014/01/21/learn-programming-

languages/#21SpJKn5Paqc

Investments, T. (2017, June 30). Amazon's Announcement Creates Disruption in the High Yield

Grocery Space. Retrieved January 09, 2018, from

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tortoiseinvest/2017/06/30/amazons-announcement-creates-

disruption-in-the-high-yield-grocery-space/#324a0a4e4afa

Jeff Bezos. (2017, July 28). Retrieved January 04, 2018, from

https://www.biography.com/people/jeff-bezos-9542209

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http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jeffrey-p-bezos/#biography

Miller, R. (2016, July 02). How AWS came to be. Retrieved January 11, 2018, from

https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/02/andy-jassys-brief-history-of-the-genesis-of-aws/

Nickelsburg, M. (2016, March 29). Amazon rated America’s most reputable company for third

straight year, despite bad press. Retrieved January 04, 2018, from

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negative-press/

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union
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