Shirley Cao joined Audible as an intern, and after college, chose to work with us full-time as a Software Engineer. Her team’s work helps Audible’s customers have a great experience as they search for their next listen, whether on Audible’s surfaces or with Alexa. Learn more about why she chose to intern with us and why she’s glad she has continued to grow her career here.

What is life like at the hub you are aligned to?

I'm at Audible's hub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I love Cambridge! I went to college here, so after seven years, it's become very familiar. The neighborhood is peaceful and lively at the same time. My colleagues and I like to sit outside for lunch when the weather is nice. Sometimes after work we'll go get some ice cream at our favorite shop. Our most frequent team outing is kayaking on the Charles River, because there's a dock right behind our office.

What initially drew you to Audible as an intern and what has kept you growing your career here?

I interned at Audible during my junior summer of college in 2021. It was between Audible and some other companies, and the product at Audible seemed the most interesting — I love stories and reading. What stood out to me was that I had fun during the interviews. I really liked the people I interviewed with. 

What has kept me growing here is definitely the people. I appreciate the company culture and emphasis on collaboration. My coworkers are very welcoming and willing to teach and help each other. Also the learning opportunities are immense: working on newer tech stacks, exploring different areas of knowledge, and building with Amazon's numerous cutting-edge tools, like AWS and GenAI.

How has your role grown since you became a full-time employee?

During college and my internships, I thought being a software engineer meant mostly coding and working on projects. When I started full time, I quickly learned there was so much more to my role. Early on, my tasks were still coding and pretty straightforward, but as I grew, I started learning how to participate in design meetings while speaking confidently in my own voice, how to escalate and unblock myself when the scope creeps, how to communicate with the right stakeholders when requirements aren't clear, and how to provide accurate time and effort estimates. All of these are essential skills for an effective software engineer, and they’re things you learn on the job, when you get your first “design spike” (what we call researching how to build a new service or feature) — that's when I dove into the deep end.

Which People Principle do you feel most aligns with your career journey so far?

“Activate Caring.” It's a core part of my own values. Audible is a unique work environment because it isn’t just listed as a principle, but embodied through various initiatives and day-to-day interactions. It fosters more collaboration and allows us to work even better together.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself on your first day as an Audible intern?

Ask questions until you really understand what's going on. While it's true that you should spend some time independently problem solving, at a certain point there is a greater benefit in asking the right person for answers. It saves you time, makes your work less siloed, and gives others the opportunity to teach and share their knowledge. 

As an intern, and even early in my career, I kept thinking "it's been a few weeks/months, I should know this by now and can't ask about it anymore." But that way of thinking keeps you from flourishing and learning. There's always so much going on and you're going to feel like you "should" know something, but when you're truly concerned about the future of a product or the trajectory of a project, you're going to ask as many questions as it takes.

What advice would you give to current or prospective interns to get the most out of their experience?

• Don't feel like you need to know everything right away. Take your time learning and asking questions! Your mentor, manager, teammates and everyone at Audible will be more than happy to answer your questions. Do be mindful that they may have their own deliverables and may not be able to answer you immediately, but don't let that deter you from getting the help you need.

• Keep your head up. Don't be purely heads down in your work; your internship is the perfect time to explore opportunities. Meet with lots of people and get to know how they like their job, what they do, and who they are outside of work.

• Know whom to ask for what. Your mentor should be a starting point for project questions, and they'll either answer or refer you to someone else. Your manager is there for support. They can help answer career or more functional questions. When you transition to full time, your manager will help unblock you if your work depends on other teams (during your internship, your mentor will take on more of this role). Knowing when to escalate situations to your manager is another important skill to learn. Subject matter experts (SMEs) can answer more technical questions about their area of expertise. Your mentor should be able to point you to who these are when your project requires their knowledge. 

What's one quality that people who are interested in working on your team need in order to be successful?

Ownership plays a huge role in success. It means taking responsibility for the state of the project; not necessarily solving the whole problem on your own, but making sure that the necessary conversations happen and the right people are involved. It involves a lot of collaboration, but ownership shows initiative. Ownership is what gets things done around here.

What is your favorite listen?

My most recent favorite is The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness by Tim Keller. It's a short listen packed with helpful reminders that touch on what true humility is and the freedom that comes from thinking about yourself less (not thinking less of yourself). Just as we can marvel at a beautiful sunset, we can rejoice when others rejoice and feel sorrow when others are going through tough times.

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