I work on AI at Amazon. My biggest career regret is waiting years to build a reputation outside the company.
An Amazon employee shares how he built a reputation outside the company — and why the effort can sometimes feel like a second job.
Abhinav Bohra, a senior applied scientist at Amazon, expressed regret about waiting years to establish a professional reputation outside the company. He explained that he had been developing a set of rules for himself to build greater visibility beyond Amazon. Initially, Bohra was hesitant to publish externally, treating anything connected to his day job as "radioactive."
He eventually realized that he could share his ideas and research without using the company's proprietary data or information. Bohra began publishing his research in 2021, which led to invitations to review other researchers' work and external speaking opportunities. He also started actively sharing his work on LinkedIn, focusing on building a professional identity separate from Amazon.
As a result, he became a Challenge Co-Chair for ACM RecSys 2026, an international conference on recommender systems, and joined a mentorship program through Johns Hopkins. Bohra believes that building an external reputation has improved both his inside and outside work, making him more comfortable contributing ideas at Amazon and boosting his confidence.
However, he acknowledged that pursuing AI and professional development can be time-consuming, affecting work-life balance.
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