Amazon, as part of the influential FAANG companies, holds considerable sway in the tech landscape worldwide. Its influence spans into various sectors from e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, to digital streaming.

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Securing an Amazon Software Development Engineer (SDE) role at Amazon is highly sought after for tech professionals, particularly in India. However, gaining entry into this position can be challenging. While the conventional approach involves applying directly through Amazon career portal, a more accessible and effective route is to obtain a referral from an existing employee.

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In this article, we'll delve into Amazon's work culture and explore how you can leverage a referral to enhance your chances of landing a rewarding career opportunity within this tech powerhouse.

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How to get a job at Amazon?

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Coming to the main question first, how to get into Amazon. There are several ways of doing that. First go over to amazon jobs page and scour through it and find the job you're looking for. You can check Amazon’s linkedin page as well for any open jobs. Apply to the job and wait for your resume to get shortlisted out of hundreds of resumes. 

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But if you’re looking for a more effective and an expeditious way to land a job at Amazon, you should consider following the referral process. This method entails asking current employees who can advocate for you within the company for a specific job role. The referral process is advantageous for three primary reasons: firstly, existing employees already possess credibility, so anyone they vouch for is likely to be viewed favorably. Secondly, if their referral doesn't meet expectations or leaves the company shortly after joining, it could affect their reputation within the company. Some companies have employee referral programs and employees get monetary incentives if their referral joins the company. Therefore, they have a vested interest in recommending candidates who are qualified and likely to succeed.

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How to Get a Job Referral

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Let’s talk about the process of how to get a referral at amazon. Here’s a step by step guide for it.

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Finding a Potential Referrer

• Open LinkedIn and dive deep into research mode. Read and research about the company, its culture (you can read about it in this article below), and its employees. 
• Try to find if anyone in your friend circle/ acquaintances/ college alumni are currently working at Amazon and reach out to them. 
• You can install our chrome extension to cut through the manual process and see which of your 1st degree LinkedIn connections are connected to Amazon. You can even ask them to provide a referral through a 1 click easy process.
• Don’t sweat, if the above step doesn't work. You can check out job referral sites which have a curated list of people who have agreed to give referrals in their companies.

‍We have made a list of 150+ Amazon employees who have agreed to give referrals. You can check out a few of them below (install our extension to check the rest)

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1. Akash Yadav- Currently working as SDE at Amazon | Previously worked in Paytm Money, Delhivery
2. Ayon Mustafi- Currently working as Software Engineer, Alexa at Amazon | College- Jadavpur University
3. Karthik Chandra- Currently working as SDE-1 at Amazon | College- IIT Tirupati
4. Ketan Jain- Currently working as SDE-2 at Amazon | College- NIT Kurukshetra
5. Palkin Juneja- Currently working as SDE-1 at Amazon | Previously worked in Zeda.io, Deloitte | College- University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Chandigarh
6. Piyush Sethia- Currently working as Web Development Engineer at Amazon | Previously worked in Walmart, Oyo, Flipkart | College- Jain University, Bangalore 
7. Sailesh Choyal- Currently working as Data Engineer II at Amazon | Previously worked in Upgrad, Celebal | College- Liverpool John Moores University, JECRC
8. Sameer Neema- Currently working as SDE-2 at Amazon | Previously worked in Jio, Walmart | College- Rajiv Gandhi Prodyogiki Vishwavidyalaya
9. Sharad Mittal- Currently working as SDE-1 at Amazon | Previously worked in Optum | College- Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh
10. Shubham Garg- Currently working as SDE-2 at Amazon | College- LNMIIT
11. Shriyam Verma- Currently working as SDE-1 at Amazon | Previously worked in Wingify | College- Jaypee Institute of Information Technology Noida
12. Raviteja Nagishetti- Currently working as SDE at Amazon | College- VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad
13. Ravi Raman- Currently working as QA Engineer at Amazon | Previously worked in Infosys | College- SJB Institute of Technology
14. Yatin Patel- Currently working as SDE-2 at Amazon | College- Dhirubhai Ambani Institute
15. Yashaswi Gautam- Currently working as SDE-2 at Amazon | Previously worked in Cerebry | College- Dronacharya College of Engineering

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• Try to find people with whom you share a common interest with such as your ex- colleagues, college/ school mates, people from your hometown or people with mutual connections. If you don’t find anyone like that, try to find a mutual interest which you can talk about eg, interest in startups, finance or even anime.

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You can also search potential referrers directly through LinkedIn

• Search for Amazon employees in the search bar and then filter them using connection, location and college filter. You can also navigate to the "People" tab on Amazon’s LinkedIn page and search through the employees.
• Remember to try to find people with maximum mutual interest and working in the same or similar role you want to apply for.

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Crafting Your Request

• Now that you've identified your potential referrers, it's time to prepare your approach. Remember, personalization is key here.
• Start by researching the referrer's background and interests. 
• Craft a LinkedIn message or email. 
• Start with a brief greeting followed with an opening line using the shared interest (same college/ school, mutual connection/interest). 
• Introducing yourself and explaining why you're reaching out. Be clear and concise about your intention, attach your resume and any relevant work sample.
• Highlight how your skills and experience align with the job requirements and the company's goals and make it clear why you're a perfect fit for the role. Emphasize on how it would benefit both the organization and yourself. 
• Don't forget to express your gratitude for their time and consideration.
• Be patient about it and wait for at least a couple of days before sending a following up.
• Be polite in case they refuse or don’t reply. Thank them for their time and make sure that you don’t burn the bridges. If they refuse, try to get their feedback and work on it.

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You can check out sample examples of personalized referral requests below in this article.

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Bonus Tip: Making it Easy for your Referrar

To make it easy for your referrer, consider providing a prefilled message that they can simply copy and send to the hiring manager. We have attached the template below.

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Sharing the template below:

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Hi [Hiring Manager],

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I hope this email finds you well.

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I'm writing to recommend [name] for the [role]. [name] and I worked at [company] together/ attended the same college and collaborated on various projects during our time there. He's demonstrated himself as a hard worker and a dedicated team player.

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Sharing his contact details below:

Email: xyz@gmail.com

Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx

Resume:

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Best regards,

[referrar]

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Work culture at Amazon India

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Amazon boasts a work culture that is both dynamic and demanding. Understanding the nuances of Amazon work culture can greatly aid in navigating the job process and acclimatizing to the company's environment.

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Pros at Working at Amazon

• Competitive Compensation: Amazon offers the best of pay, often exceeding market standards. Additionally, it provides stock options, further enhancing the financial benefits.
• State-of-the-Art Offices: Amazon offices are well-designed, and equipped with the latest amenities, fostering a conducive work environment.
• Fast-Paced Environment: Things move at lightning speed at Amazon, it’s a place for you if you’re looking for a fast paced environment.
• Continuous Learning and Skill Development: Amazon invests significantly in employee development, offering extensive training programs and mentorship opportunities.
• End-to-End Ownership: You are given complete ownership of your projects from ideation to testing.
• Internal Mobility: Amazon provides internal movement between teams. You are free to network within the organization and join different teams and projects.
• Customer First Approach: Customer is at the center of all the decisions and products. 
• Impact: Working at Amazon means anything you do would be impacting thousands of customers.

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Cons

• Intense Workload: Especially during peak seasons, employees experience a high workload and pressure to meet deadlines.
• Work-Life Balance Challenges: Maintaining a healthy work-life balance can be challenging at Amazon. Employees feel that the work spills in their personal lives.
• Tight Deadlines: SDE are required to adhere to tight deadlines and deliver projects on time.
• Bureaucratic Culture: Due to its size and organizational structure, some employees perceive Amazon as having a bureaucratic culture, leading to delays in decision-making processes.

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In the end it’s about weighing pros and cons to reach a final decision when considering joining Amazon as an SDE. 

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Different roles and hierarchy at Amazon

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• SDE 1- For college graduates requires 0-2 yrs of experience. The candidate should have a basic understanding of programming and good problem solving skills.
• SDE 2- Requires 3-6 yrs exp. SDEs at this level have more ownership of projects and are also responsible for mentoring and guiding SDE 1 candidates.

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From here you can pick your career path. If you want to continue on technical path:

• SDE 3- This is equivalent to a lead/manager role. They are experts in programming and problem solving and keep business objectives in mind when making decisions.
• Principal Engineer - They are in charge of handling large teams of software engineers and are responsible for making important technical and architectural decisions.
• Sr. Principal Engineer- They are in charge of highly complex systems and serve as leaders and mentors to large teams of junior SDEs.
• Distinguished Engineer- Only a handful of engineers reach this level. They should have envisioned successful products/services such as AWS or Kindle.

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Or if you want to go towards a managerial path, you can become  an SDM - Software Development Manager and Senior SDM after that. (Stay tuned for a blog on this.) 

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Amazon salaries for different roles:

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Amazon is known to pay premium salaries to its engineers. On top of the base salary, SDEs are given additional stocks as well.

• SDE-1 : 18 LPA - 22 LPA
• SDE-2 : 28 LPA - 40 LPA
• SDE-3 : 43 LPA - 62 LPA

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Samples for asking for Job Referral:

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Email sample for job referral: Reaching out to a college senior

Hi Anuj,

Hope you’re doing well.

I don't know if you remember me or not but I worked as a volunteer in your team in our annual college cultural fest. We worked directly in the stage play event when the judge canceled at the last minute and led to the whole event getting delayed, quite a fiasco it was.

I'm actually reaching out to you because I needed a small favor. I recently saw that an SDE 1 position has opened up at Amazon and I'm interested in applying for it. Would it be possible for you to refer me for the same? I have 1.5 years of experience as a Fullstack Engineer at Weekday (a YC backed startup) and I believe my skills and experience align well with the requirements of the SDE 1 role at Amazon.

I've attached my resume for your reference. If you're able to provide a referral or offer any advice on the application process, I would be incredibly grateful.

Thank you for considering my request. I truly appreciate your time and assistance.

I know that you’ll be submitting a referral in your internal portal but in case you’re going to mail the hiring manager you can use something like this.

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Hi [Hiring Manager],

‍I hope this email finds you well.

I'm writing to recommend Amit Singh for the SDE 1 role. Amit and I attended the same college and collaborated on various projects during our time there. He's demonstrated himself as a hard worker and a dedicated team player.

Sharing his contact details below:

Email: xyz@gmail.com

Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx

Resume:

Best regards,

Anuj

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Warm Regards

Amit

Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx

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Sample of how to ask for referral on LinkedIn: Reaching out to a person with mutual connection

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Dear Anuj,

Hope you’re doing well.

I got your reference from Akhil. I believe you guys went to college together. He is an ex colleague of mine, we worked briefly together at Weekday before parting ways.

I'm actually reaching out to you because I needed a small favor. I am actively looking out for a new job and saw that an SDE 2 position has opened up at Amazon. I wanted to see if it would be possible for you to refer me for it? I have 4 years of experience in a similar role at a YC backed startup. I believe I possess the technical skills and relevant experience required for this role.

Attaching my resume for your reference. If you're able to provide a referral or offer any advice on the application process, I would be incredibly grateful.

Thank you for considering my request. I truly appreciate your time and assistance.

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Warm Regards

Amit

Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx

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