From 40 Rejections To Dream Job At Amazon: But What Happened Next Will Leave You Stunned

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New Delhi: As he failed to make friends and even connect with his coworkers in the new city, a software engineer who relocated from New York to Seattle for a high-paying job with Amazon has claimed that the decision led to the loneliest moment of his life. There was no time for recreation.

After a three-month search and 40 rejections, Alexander Nguyen, a recent graduate in computer science, was hired by Amazon in 2020 as a new employee. Nguyen went to Seattle after selling everything he owned on Facebook Marketplace because the deal was so attractive. ()

However, living in Seattle was a culture shock for a freshman who had spent four years in New York City studying, exploring, and taking advantage of the city's vibrant nightlife. ()

"I was surprised by how much people in Seattle liked making small talk; they asked me how my days were going, which wasn't something I normally experienced in New York City," Nguyen said to Business Insider. "Nobody warns you that forming friends is difficult. At first, I was truly thrilled to meet among other like-minded techies and talk about system design. I thought I'd have a tonne of chances for career advancement, write beautiful code, and create enterprise software for millions of users.

Nguyen, however, found himself in a tech environment in Seattle that he was unable to appreciate or fully utilise. I thought there would be a lot of recent graduates or individuals my age who were just getting out of college, but that wasn't the case. It was unquestionably the most lonely time of my life, he admitted.

Living alone, Nguyen's daily schedule developed a pattern: he would get up, work at his computer, complete his tasks, then retire to bed. The Covid epidemic made things worse and made Nguyen feel even more alone.

His efforts to become friends with his Amazon coworkers failed as well because the majority were either considerably older or had dissimilar hobbies. They also exclusively interacted online, and there were no introductions made at the water cooler.

"I genuinely wanted to get to know my coworkers, but I had a hard time doing so. The more senior colleagues either had children or were already married, and the majority of them were in their late 20s or early 30s with significant industry experience. Most of the time, the only topic I could discuss with them was the weather, Nguyen said to the media.