So, you're interested in distributed systems? Where to start? Actually, the job description that Werner Vogels just posted is a great way to see what'll be expected. Learn what every sentence in that job description means. Meditate on it, they are your koans.

But Steve, that stuff is complicated. Throw a brother a bone.

• Read Elements of Distributed Computing
• Read Milner's Communicating and Mobile Systems: the pi-calculus
• Learn Hewitt's Actors Model
• Compare and Contrast Actors and the Join Calculus
• Stop being scared by the term 'calculus'
• Learn an Actors Language. E, IO, Erlang, will all do.
• Read about how other good engineers have built distributed systems
• Build some distributed systems