Amazon com : Technical Academy celebrates its latest 77 graduates

Amazon's intensive upskilling program helps employees of all backgrounds move into careers in software development engineering.

A fulfillment center associate. An executive assistant. A recruiter.

The majority of Amazon Technical Academy's latest graduates previously worked in those and other non-technical roles at Amazon. I'm proud to report that all 77 graduates are now on their way to becoming full-time software development engineers. They will be working on teams including Alexa Skills, Whole Foods Market Digital, Amazon Advertising, Prime Air, Twitch, AWS, and many more.

Along with the rest of the Amazon Technical Academy team, I was excited to celebrate the graduates' hard-work during a virtual graduation event-with a special visit from Dave Clark, Amazon's CEO of Worldwide Consumer.

Amazon Technical Academy has trained hundreds of Amazon employees in the essential skills they need to transition into high-demand, entry-level software development engineer roles. Many graduates started in our logistics networks, and this year more than 40% of our graduates came from Amazon's customer fulfillment network. Since 2017, the tuition-free program has placed 98% of its graduates into software development roles within Amazon, with their salary and compensation packages increasing an average of 93%.

Amazon helps employees become software engineers in 9 months

The Amazon Technical Academy upskilling program targets Amazon employees aspiring to become software engineers. Its leader says education is key to long-term success.

Read more

Amazon Technical Academy is just one of the training programs included in Upskilling 2025, Amazon's $700 million commitment to equip more than 100,000 Amazon employees with new professional skills to pursue in-demand jobs by 2025. We know our training is in high demand: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that employment of software developers is projected to grow 22% from 2019 to 2029, much faster than the average for all other occupations.

Amid a particularly challenging year, our latest Amazon Technical Academy graduates took part in the program's first fully virtual training experience. They participated in the nine-month, full-time program from across the U.S.-making Amazon Technical Academy truly national for the first time.

Becoming a software development engineer in nine months isn't easy. It's a massive undertaking, especially for students with little to no previous technical experience. Yet in that short period of time, our students rapidly progress from writing a few lines of code to designing a system that analyzes whether feedback left on code reviews is positive or negative using machine learning.

That level of growth is intense and extremely challenging, but this program sets our graduates up for success-not just in their first role at Amazon, but in their careers. They should be so proud of the hard work they put in and what they've accomplished.

I love that my role on the Amazon Technical Academy team encourages our participants to learn and be curious every day. As software development engineers, we are always getting to build new things-but we have to be constantly learning. Technology is ever evolving.

Our graduates may not hold a computer science degree, but they have worked incredibly hard to learn the essential skills for the role. They also bring diverse perspectives to their work, pulling from their previous life and professional experiences to best serve our customers from around the world. Many of the Amazon Technical Academy instructors also come from non-traditional backgrounds, myself included. The graduates are more than qualified for these roles, and I'm honored that I got to be even a small part of their journey.

I personally never knew I'd love being a software development engineer-this field is far more collaborative and creative than I ever could have anticipated. I encourage anyone thinking about it-even if you thought it was out of your reach-to go for it. Seven years ago, when I began my transition into a software development engineering role, I would have never guessed I would end up teaching and developing curriculum to help others do the same. You never know how an upskilling opportunity like this could change the trajectory of your career for years to come.

I'm also excited that this program is not just for Amazon employees anymore. We've shared our curriculum and best practices with two new collaborators, Kenzie Academyand Lambda School, to help more people land in-demand technical roles.

Amazon is also proud of all the Amazon Technical Academy graduates. Hear from some of the new graduates below, and learn where they're working now:

'Amazon Technical Academy gives people motivation to strive for more. Having a light at the end of the tunnel when you're in a lower position makes a difference. Some positions, there is a ceiling, and Amazon Technical Academy is a way to shatter that ceiling.' -Carol Rogan, Amazon Technical Academy intern with Seller Fulfillment Services.

'I wanted more than anything to become an engineer, and everyone I worked with wanted the same thing and was working to get me there. It was incredible. Amazon Technical Academy is offering the kind of opportunities that can only be dreamed of by so many.' -Karl Groff, software development engineer with Enterprise Engineering.

'Amazon Technical Academy was what I expected and more. I love that Amazon Technical Academy doesn't just teach you the technical skills, but how to learn, troubleshoot, and deal with ambiguity. For the employees, it's very encouraging to know that Amazon is investing in their employees and supporting our personal growth.' -Jasmine Chen, Amazon Technical Academy intern with Seller Tools.

'Amazon Technical Academy has taught me the power of perseverance and going after your dreams.' -Ryan Lewis, Amazon Technical Academy intern with Delivery Experience.

'I have wanted to get into the software development industry since my late teens and have been working my way toward that goal ever since. I joined amazon as an Warehouse IT Technician in hopes of moving to a software development career, and while working there heard about Amazon Technical Academy from a mentor. I decided it was my best shot to break into the industry. One year later and I achieved my goal and am a proud member of the Amazon SDE community, and loving every moment of it.' -Justin Carver, software development engineer at AWS.

'Ultimately, I found love with using problem-solving skills, scientific methods, and logic to model and analyze data that could help potentially millions of people. I came from a health/life-science background, and knowing how fast tech is growing, I knew becoming a software engineer would give me the tools to one day make a difference in these fields using data for research and/or creating programs.' -Yasmin Everson, Amazon Technical Academy intern with Search Customer Experience.

'As soon as I learned about Amazon Technical Academy, I knew getting in would be my dream come true! There are many people who may excel in this career path who never got the opportunity to pursue computer science education-they discovered it later in life, couldn't afford college, family obligations, etc. Amazon Technical Academy provides a bridge to this career path for those who are interested but didn't have the means.' -Elizabeth Sechter, software development engineer at Twitch.

'I have been learning on my own as much as I could and already had my target to try to grow into a software development engineer position, and when I found out about Amazon Technical Academy, I felt it was a great way to get there with more validation.' -Josue Badillo, software development engineer at AWS.

Related Tags

Working at AmazonUpskillingTraining

About the Author

Sonia Dillane, software development engineer and instructor at Amazon Technical Academy

Sonia teaches classes, helps design curriculum, and builds software tools for the Amazon Technical Academy.