Amazon is adding 3,000 more employees to its Boston Tech Hub, where they’ll join 3,700 technologists already at work on a number of technology initiatives, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon Robotics, Alexa, and Amazon Pharmacy.
Many of those new hires will need artificial intelligence (A.I.), machine learning, and software development skills. In addition to those specialists, Amazon is also seeking project managers.
Boston boasts a number of features that make it exceptionally attractive to tech employers of all sizes. Thanks to its cluster of local universities (including Harvard and MIT), it can offer a robust pipeline of young, hungry talent. As with other prominent tech hubs across the country, there’s also all the infrastructure you need to support growing businesses, including access to major airports, office space, and venture capital.
The growing presence of companies like Amazon could help maintain Boston’s reputation as a major research and development hub, even as smaller tech hubs such as Raleigh and Houston compete more aggressively for tech companies’ dollars and attention. According to CompTIA’s Cyberstates 2020 report, net technology employment in Massachusetts grew by 11,500 net new jobs in 2019. “capping a decade in which the commonwealth’s tech-related labor force expanded by 86,000 workers.”
Nationwide, Amazon hired 427,300 employees between January and October 2020, bringing its total workforce to 1.2 million. Although 85 percent of the company’s employees work in its warehouses (which it terms ‘fulfillment centers’), it’s also hired a number of technologists, including many with highly specialized skills.
According to Burning Glass, which collects and analyzes millions of job postings from across the country, Amazon was particularly interested in hiring technologists with the following skills:
As you might expect, mastery of AWS is key to many Amazon technology jobs (and fortunately, there are lots of options when it comes to AWS training and certifications). And like other tech giants, Amazon also wants many of its technologists to have working knowledge of the world’s most programming languages, including Java, Python, and C++. That’s good news for those who don’t necessarily have skill-sets in cutting-edge areas such as machine learning and A.I.; although as you know, that sort of highly specialized knowledge can land you a job pretty much anywhere.
In geographic terms, Amazon has focused much of its hiring on Seattle, New York City, Silicon Valley, and Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia (where it’s also building its massive HQ2 headquarters). As you can see from the following chart, though, there’s been strong hiring in Boston, even before the latest announcement:
If you’re a technologist in Boston, there might be a role for you at Amazon—especially if you have a background in artificial intelligence (A.I.) and machine learning.
