A photo of an Amazon employee taking an online course on desktop and laptop devices.

New skills, higher pay

Amazon has invested more than $1.2 billion to provide free skills training opportunities to more than 350,000 U.S. employees since our Upskilling Pledge launched in 2019, helping them further their careers in high-paying, in-demand roles.

Learn more about our upskilling programs below, and how they contribute to Amazon’s mission to be Earth’s Best Employer.

Skills training opportunities for employees

  • A woman with a focused look on her face holds a device connected to a hose and leans over a work surface covered in plastic.
    Career Choice

    Amazon's Career Choice will pre-pay full college tuition at hundreds of education partners across the country. In addition to funding associate and bachelor’s degrees, the program will also fund high school completion, GED’s, and ESL proficiency certifications. Since launching in 2012, over 110,000 Amazon employees across 14 countries worldwide have received training for high-demand occupations including aircraft mechanics, computer-aided designers, commercial truck drivers, medical assistants, nurses and more.

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    Machine Learning University

    This initiative helps Amazon employees with a background in technology and coding gain skills in this discipline. As machine learning plays an increasingly important role in customer innovation, this program helps employees learn core skills to propel their career growth.

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    Amazon Technical Apprenticeship Program

    We’ve created programs that provide opportunities to get trained while at work, in high-demand areas like cloud computing. This is one way to support veterans as they break into careers, such as cloud support associate, data center technician, and software development engineer.

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    AWS Training and Certification

    AWS Training and Certification is a dedicated business in AWS that equips organizations and learners of all skill levels, roles, and backgrounds with the knowledge and practical skills to innovate in the AWS Cloud. AWS Training and Certification offers more than 600 free digital trainings on AWS Skill Builder, our digital learning center. Amazon employees can also take advantage of AWS Skill Builder subscription content, instructor-led AWS classroom training, AWS Certification exam preparation resources, and experiential and game-based learning, at no cost.

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    Mechatronics and Robotics apprenticeship

    This new upskilling program provides training in mechatronics and robotics for careers in robotics, with hourly wages up to nearly 40% higher for employees upon completion.

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    Surge2IT

    Surge2IT is a new, global Amazon upskilling program that provides tuition-free education and training for entry-level IT employees who want to advance their IT careers—at Amazon and beyond.

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    UX Research and Design Apprenticeship

    Amazon’s new upskilling program is helping employees learn UX research and design skills to better their own career and boost the experience of Amazon customers.

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    AWS Grow Our Own Talent

    Amazon Web Services ‘Grow Our Own Talent’ program supports employees with nontraditional experience to gain on-the-job tech training and development.

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    AWS Intelligence Initiative

    AWS Intelligence Initiative is a program that develops operational talent to gain the technical skills and security clearance needed to work in Amazon Dedicated Cloud (ADC) regions. The program allows participants to work on impactful technologies they are passionate about, while facilitating the expansion of ADC across the globe.

A young woman wearing a green sweatshirt smiles at the camera while studying on her laptop.

Upskilling: Workforce Programs for the Public

In December 2020, Amazon Web Services (AWS) committed to investing hundreds of millions of dollars to provide free cloud computing skills training to 29 million people worldwide by 2025. More than a year ahead of schedule, AWS has surpassed this ambitious goal, having helped more than 31 million learners across 200 countries and territories build their cloud skills through its free training initiatives. AWS continues to invest in providing free and low-cost cloud computing and AI skills training for people of all backgrounds and skill levels.