From AWS Intern to Full-Time Software Engineer in South Africa | My Honest Story

🚀 From UCT student to AWS Software Development Engineer in South Africa — here's exactly how I did it. I never thought I'd start my software engineering career at a big tech company like Amazon Web Services. Most people think you have to start small and work your way up to FAANG — but I'm proof that you can start at the top. In this video I break down my full journey: from a mindset shift in my second year studying BSc Computer Science at the University of Cape Town, to landing two AWS internships, surviving the behavioral and technical interviews, learning AWS Leadership Principles, and finally accepting a full-time SDE offer. 💡 What you'll learn: → How to prepare for AWS behavioral interviews using Leadership Principles → How to crack the Amazon technical interview (LeetCode tips included) → What it's actually like to intern at AWS as a South African student → How to go from internship to full-time offer at a big tech company → The reality of imposter syndrome at FAANG companies This is the video I wish I had when I was starting out. Whether you're a student at UCT, Wits, or anywhere in Africa trying to break into big tech — this one's for you. 🌍 📩 Business/Collabs: devdeshy@gmail.com 🔗 Find me here: 👉 X/Twitter: https://x.com/deshydan_ 👉 LinkedIn:   / deshydan   👉 Instagram:   / deshydan   👉 GitHub: https://github.com/DeshyDan 👉 TikTok:   / deshydan_   🔔 If this helped you, like, subscribe and hit the bell — I'm sharing everything about my journey as a software engineer in Africa. More videos on AWS, system design, career growth and African tech coming soon. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 00:22 - The journey starts 01:17 - Starting to look for internships 01:41 - I wanted FAANG companies 02:04 - I didn't know about AWS 02:10 - Accepted for behavioral interview 03:20 - Why AWS Leadership Principles matter 03:26 - The technical interview rounds 05:30 - One of my technical round questions 05:50 - I loved my interviewers 06:37 - Internship secured — I passed! 06:52 - Imposter syndrome before starting 08:41 - My first internship experience at AWS 11:06 - Preparing for third year at UCT 11:45 - Second internship experience 14:04 - I got a return offer but... 14:22 - What I got into in 2025 14:39 - Tried building a startup 15:58 - Coming back fulltime to AWS 18:30 - Outro #aws #softwareengineer #AWSInternship #bigtech #softwareengineering #SouthAfricanDeveloper #faang #techcareers #amazonwebservices #leadershipprinciples #leetcode #systemdesign #codinginterview #awsinterview #UCT #computerscience #developerlife #techafrica #cloudcomputing