Amazon

Smart, dedicated, focused co-workers with the ability to look into and talk to anyone to learn more about systems.

For example:

• If you have questions about AWS during a design, talk to an internal solutions architect to discuss if there are things you haven't considered.
• If you are wondering if you've re-invented the wheel, talk to interest lists or message boards to see what may already exist.

The higher you go, as with any company, the more political decisions there are. For larger initiatives, you really need to be very watchful about the OP1/OP2 planning season and get on your partner teams' planning list. If you don't do that, you're likely to be told, "I'm sorry, you aren't on my list of commitments and we are behind. I'd have to drop X, Y, Z to support you, and they are more important."