https://startupnextdoor.com/ Startup Next Door en-us https://startupnextdoor.com/my-next-journey-2026/ https://startupnextdoor.com/my-next-journey-2026/ Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 In October, after eight and a half years at Amazon, I decided to leave. If you look at the update at the top of this post, you’ll see why. What I’m Looking For Earlier this year I started looking for work, focusing on much smaller companies. I’m not interested in being on the… https://startupnextdoor.com/zappos-is-the-best-company-ive-ever-worked-for/ https://startupnextdoor.com/zappos-is-the-best-company-ive-ever-worked-for/ Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000 Important Update: In December 2024, Amazon made drastic changes to the management of Zappos. Sadly, the Zappos culture I’ve written about here is gone. Most of the people that kept that Zappos spirit alive have left or were laid off. I also left Amazon. Zappos is just Amazon now, and all… https://startupnextdoor.com/ive-transferred-to-zappos/ https://startupnextdoor.com/ive-transferred-to-zappos/ Wed, 22 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000 This week I joined Zappos! Zappos is a subsidiary of Amazon, acquired in 2009. If you’re not aware of Zappos, it is a legend in the e-commerce space, known worldwide for its amazing customer service. No seriously, they’re that good. Around 2008, Zappos’ (at the time) unique… https://startupnextdoor.com/coding-interview-university-hit-the-github-top-10/ https://startupnextdoor.com/coding-interview-university-hit-the-github-top-10/ Tue, 14 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000 After starting this repo four years ago, I’m pleased to announce that the Coding Interview University project is in the top 10 on Github! Over the years I’ve been updating it and managing pull requests from the many kind contributors to the project. The project has a huge amount of… https://startupnextdoor.com/assembly-language-string-library-so-far/ https://startupnextdoor.com/assembly-language-string-library-so-far/ Sun, 03 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000 I wanted to share my progress on Assignment 1 (string processing library) of the Low-Level Programming book. See code below. I’ve been working on this assignment in some free times for the last 3 months, and I’ve invested many hours into it. It was slow going at first, and I got faster,… https://startupnextdoor.com/low-level-programming/ https://startupnextdoor.com/low-level-programming/ Sat, 19 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000 While I was studying computer science, I spent only a short amount of time on assembly programming, but I found it fascinating. The ability to run a program by speaking to the CPU was pretty cool. It was a topic I wanted to revisit. Late last year I picked up “Low Level Programming” (C,… https://startupnextdoor.com/my-java-reading-list/ https://startupnextdoor.com/my-java-reading-list/ Sun, 21 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000 Even before I started work at Amazon, I got started getting up to speed on the main language I would use for the job. Here is the reading list I put together and future books I want to read. What I’ve Read so Far: It took me a few months to get through these. Java: A Beginner’s Guide,… https://startupnextdoor.com/back-to-blogging-whats-coming-next/ https://startupnextdoor.com/back-to-blogging-whats-coming-next/ Sun, 14 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000 Hey all, If you’ve been waiting to see more content here, I appreciate your patience. What have I been doing? I’ve been busy getting up to speed at Amazon over the last year and a half, and using a lot of my free time to read up on Java (what I use at work) and system design. Also, we… https://startupnextdoor.com/want-to-work-at-amazon/ https://startupnextdoor.com/want-to-work-at-amazon/ Sat, 22 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000 Important Update: In December 2024, I left Amazon. This article should still be accurate, but there are a lot of things happening at Amazon, so I won’t be able to know what has changed. Best of luck to you, my friend! 🫡 Want to join Amazon? It’s a super place to work. I work with… https://startupnextdoor.com/my-startup-days-are-over/ https://startupnextdoor.com/my-startup-days-are-over/ Tue, 07 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000 Yup. Even though the name of my blog is Startup Next Door, I’m done with startups. I knew a year ago that I wouldn’t start another company, or work at another startup. What About my Startups? I’ll still run zKorean and TalkToTheManager, but since everything is automated, the time… https://startupnextdoor.com/ive-been-acquired-by-amazon/ https://startupnextdoor.com/ive-been-acquired-by-amazon/ Mon, 06 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000 If you’ve been following my adventures, you’ll know I’ve been doing startups for years, and this last year has been no different. I’ve treated these last 11 months like a startup (studying full-time to build my skills to be more marketable), with the goal of getting acquired… https://startupnextdoor.com/what-im-looking-for-in-a-new-job/ https://startupnextdoor.com/what-im-looking-for-in-a-new-job/ Tue, 10 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000 To all recruiters, welcome. I’m available to hire immediately in the greater Seattle area. Eastside is preferred since I live in downtown Bellevue, but I’ll commute if I must. No telecommuting, please. I want to work in an office. I learn more from my team that… https://startupnextdoor.com/my-process-for-coding-interview-book-exercises/ https://startupnextdoor.com/my-process-for-coding-interview-book-exercises/ Sun, 27 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000 I’ve become frustrated at the time it takes me to solve some coding problems while practicing for the coding interview. I’ve spent as much as 2 hours on a single problem. A typical coding interview question should take approximately 40 minutes to complete from initial explanation to… https://startupnextdoor.com/fun-with-tries/ https://startupnextdoor.com/fun-with-tries/ Sat, 26 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000 I’m a fan of tries. I can’t claim that I’ve used them in practice, but I wish I had. They’re super! Common uses: substring search spell check autocomplete This is an implementation I just put together. Enjoy! Trie API: add(word) - Add the given word to the… https://startupnextdoor.com/book-report-data-structures-and-algorithms-in-python/ https://startupnextdoor.com/book-report-data-structures-and-algorithms-in-python/ Tue, 22 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000 I thought I was done reading books for the learning phase of my study process, and was itching to get back to the coding problems phase. But something was missing. I had read several books and watched months worth of videos, and the code I had seen along the way was C, Java, C++, but not too much… https://startupnextdoor.com/retaining-computer-science-knowledge/ https://startupnextdoor.com/retaining-computer-science-knowledge/ Sun, 13 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000 I’ve been asked numerous times, “How do you remember all the stuff you’ve been studying?” Here’s my method that will keep all the good stuff in your brain. My Mistake in the Beginning When I first started studying, I was watching videos all day long, taking tons of… https://startupnextdoor.com/my-algorithm-design-canvas/ https://startupnextdoor.com/my-algorithm-design-canvas/ Wed, 19 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000 For doing daily programming problems, I started using this Algorithm Design Canvas created by HiredInTech. Their methodical process is really good. Check it out. By the way, their design canvas is the starting point for the Coding Question Practice section on Coding Interview University. This is… https://startupnextdoor.com/where-to-get-a-cheap-whiteboard/ https://startupnextdoor.com/where-to-get-a-cheap-whiteboard/ Wed, 19 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000 Large whiteboards are expensive. For the do-it-yourself type, you can pick up a wall panel at your local home improvement store. Just look for “melamine wall panel”. It’s a very inexpensive, large board meant to be a wall panel for areas with high humidity, like laundry… https://startupnextdoor.com/how-to-rock-the-programming-portion-of-your-interview/ https://startupnextdoor.com/how-to-rock-the-programming-portion-of-your-interview/ Mon, 10 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000 Well, it’s taken many months to get to this point, because I had a lot to learn. With no formal computer science training and not knowing the difference between a heap (data structure) and a heap (dynamic memory allocation), it took much longer than I expected to get this far. Now on to doing… https://startupnextdoor.com/machine-learning-the-future-has-arrived/ https://startupnextdoor.com/machine-learning-the-future-has-arrived/ Sat, 08 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000 I wanted to spend a good bit of time gaining deeper knowledge and more experience with machine learning and data science, but just ran out of time this week. Why Machine Learning? It’s the future, right now. It’s the equivalent of finding a O(log α(n)) solution for a O(n!) problem.…