A born blind man works as a software engineer at Amazon

Human beings use various senses to obtain various information, but they are heavily dependent on visual information, in particular, it is said that the percentage exceeds 80%. A born blind man who can not obtain such visual information works as a software engineer at Amazon of a major EC site.

Blind since birth, writing code at Amazon since 2013
https://blog.aboutamazon.com/working-at-amazon/blind-since-birth-writing-code-at-amazon-since-2013

While blind, Michael Forzano says that he works as a software engineer at Amazon. In the following movies, Mr. Forzano has responded to his interview on his or her own background and "working as a software engineer at Amazon".

Coding without seeing the screen - YouTube


26-year-old Forzano, who works as a software engineer at Amazon 's retail accessibility team. He was born blindly invisible by hereditary "Nori disease". However, Mr. Forzano said, "I could spend my normal childhood without doubt, although my eyes are invisible, my parents can do the same things as ordinary children do I always reminded myself of various things to make me understand, "I recall about my childhood.


Mr. Forzano started to lose his hearing at the age of 5, and now he is listening to the sound with the cochlear implants (cochlear implants). For youth, Mr. Forzano is interested in audio-based computer games and begins studying programming. Regarding the encounter with programming, "When I was a high school student and interested in computers, I learned about the existence of a community of blind people on the web, including not just a hobby but a program as a work Some developers said that some developers have taught me programming, especially programming games. " In particular, he seems to be interested in programming audio games that make it possible to play ordinary games even with blind people by using sound effect.


After that, he entered Binghamton College, while playing sax at the university in the pop band, Mr. Forzano said he got a bachelor's degree in computer science. After graduating from college, Mr. Forzano became an Amazon software engineer, but at Amazon Amazon with other colleagues say that he wrote "a code that makes people with disabilities more likely to shop on Amazon". Regarding what happens when I decide to work for Amazon, I remember that she began to cry on the phone when I told her that she got a job offer from her mother.


This is the workplace where Mr. Forzano works.


"When I say that I am a software engineer at Amazon, people are all surprised."


In my workplace my dog ​​is sleeping on cushion.


Mr. Forzano is doing his job using a standard notebook PC equipped with software that reads letters on the screen.


The following movie introduces how you actually write the code. The software seems to read aloud the existing code written on the line where the cursor is aligned, and it is told that the reading speed gradually became faster and the understanding increased as I got the job It is. When you see the movie, you see the moment when Mr. Forzano actually enters the code, you can see that typing is done at a fairly high speed.

How Forzano writes code - YouTube


My colleague Erik Wang talks about Mr. Forzano, "I can read and write code faster than I am, and I have a special power to find defects in the code."


Regarding this "special power", Mr. Forzano says he has "a spiritual map on the structure of the code". It seems to be able to write code quickly and find defects in the code, he says it is also useful for providing unique feedback to the development team.


further,SoundCloudIn the interview sound of Mr. Forzano's published above, "My colleagues sometimes ask," Can you tell me how this works, because I think the code structure and certain components Because I have a spiritual map to understand where I am and about the architecture of the whole system. " This "spiritual map" seems to be of great help in grasping the structure of code like a normal programmer relying on whiteboards and diagrams, and "Although visible people often visually learn, I Since there is no vision, I can now build a spiritual map to grasp the structure in my head. "

In addition, Mr. Forzano says it is "an act that can obtain a pure satisfaction that the organization to which he belongs has the correct evaluation" about the work of writing code at Amazon.