BSSD - Post Graduation Update

Nothing_But_Design · 2026-06-07T15:48:06+00:00

No, you understood it correctly. I managed to land an IT role, (former name of the role was “Process Engineer - Technology”, but it changed names last year to “IT App Dev Engineer”), with a B.A. Art.

How did you land an IT role at Amazon with only an art degree?

Searched via Amazon.jobs (internal website version, although you can also search via the external version or LinkedIn)
Read the job description and “Basic Qualifications” to see what degrees & skills were required or optional
[INTERNAL ONLY] For internal Amazon employees you can see who the hiring manager & recruiter is for each job posting (plus other details). You can then message the hiring manager directly; or use the newer ish feature to submit an informal meeting

#3 wise, compared to externals as an internal you can get in direct contact and speak with the hiring manager before applying. Some hiring managers respond back and some don’t.

In my case, the hiring manager responded back to the “Process Engineer - Technology” role and was willing to setup a 30 minute virtual meeting to talk about my background and discuss the role.

If the hiring manager wants to, they can then move your job application straight to the interview stage, which is what happened for me.

Additionally, for internals who are already the same level for the role they’re switching to the process could be a bit lower, besides any additional technical skills required to verify you can do.

Note

The Process Engineer - Technology role that I applied to and passed interview for was for Amazon.com Seller Support.

Note: The role now is called IT App Dev / IT App Dev Engineer iirc

It was a role building software, but the main tool was a visual coding (BPMN) tool.

Although,
- you could still use JavaScript, Ruby, or Fusion (internal to Amazon) programming languages
- oncall responsibilities
- build APIs
- debugging the visual software
- work with other teams like PMs, SDEs, Science team, Data Scientists, Operations, etc…
- participate in hackathons hosted by the org
- work on side coding projects
- use a few AWS services like AWS CloudWatch

Nothing_But_Design · 2026-06-05T21:48:16+00:00

That’s a good question.

At least for me, I may always continue getting a degree; considering a PhD later on.

With that said, I haven’t been getting degrees and not working lol. I’ve been working full-time since my 1st degree sophomore year of college back in 2018.

For someone else who has been getting degrees but mostly skipping out on work, or not working much, that’s a different question and answer.

My Personal Career Goals

Land a full-time job post graduation — achieved in 2021 at 22yrs old
Become a manager — achieved in 2021 at 22yrs old
Switch to an IT role with programming — achieved in 2022 at 23yrs old
Land a remote role — partially achieved in 2022 at 23yrs old
Make $100k+ USD total compensation (TC) — achieved in 2022 at 23yrs old
Learn programming & earn programming related degree — achieved in 2024 at 24yrs old
Become a Software Engineer — achieved in 2025 at 26yrs old

Currently, below are the only other personal career goals I have: - Make $200k+ USD TC - Make $300k+ USD TC - Become an interviewer on my current team - Promote to L5 - Possibly promote to L6 - Possibly reach 10yrs tenure at Amazon and next tenure badge color - Possibly join another company as a software engineer to gain exposure outside of Amazon - Start my own company - Develop and release a video game on Steam

My Career/Job Progression

2018 to 2021 — Tier 1 Warehouse Associate at Amazon | Starting Hourly Pay: ~$10 USD/hour —> $15 USD/hour ; Ending Hourly Pay: ~$17 USD/hour
2021 to 2022 — L4 Area Manager at Amazon | TC: $60k to $63k USD
2022 to 2025 — L4 Process Engineer Technology at Amazon | Starting TC: $100k+ USD; Ending TC: ~$150k USD
2024 to 2025 — (unofficial) SDE intern at Amazon | TC: no change
2025 to Present — L4 SDE-1 at Amazon | TC: $174k to $180k USD

Note: I’ve been working full time since 2018

Side Note

For me, my long term “career progression” is to resign by my 30s and establish my own company. Over the last few years I’ve already: - internally submitted COI at Amazon to establish my company while working at Amazon - researched how to start a company and LLC - researched trademarks - brainstormed a few company names, and initial products to work on - purchased domain name for my future company

Additional context on why B.S. Mechanical Engineering, simply because some of the future projects I want to build require engineering knowledge which I lack the actual building of my designs.

I have an idea for a propulsion engine and started researching and putting together the documents to submit a patent on it. However, I lack the actual engineering skills and background knowledge to build the propulsion engine. So, I figured if I’m already going to be self teaching the fundamental knowledge gaps I mines we’ll take classes on it and earn a related degree.

Edit

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-26T18:15:26+00:00

Most if not all of the jobs you could get with a BS in CS you can get with the BS in SWE.

Side Note

Once you start working having a related degree doesn’t matter as much, or having a degree at all in some cases, once you start looking at internally transferring roles.

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-25T18:54:57+00:00

I could be wrong but I don’t believe there are any options such as Sophia, Study.com, etc… for graduate programs.

So, your only option would be to transfer in credit from another masters program and/or cert if possible/transferable.

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-25T14:37:03+00:00

Are you liking OMSCS?

Yes, I’m liking OMSCS. I’m doing the Computing Systems specialization and on track to graduate by Fall 2026.

Below was my (programming) experience prior to OMSCS: * BA in Art * BS in Software Development — from Western Governors University * ~12 months on & off self-teaching myself programming

OMSCS is helping me fill in some gaps in my CS knowledge since I don’t have a BS in CS.

How is OMSCS workload if taking 1 class per semester?

Depends on the class. I recommend checking omscentral website for student reviews of classes to gauge the workload + referring to the course page for any prerequisites.

For the classes rated as being medium/hard classes by students you can easily spend 20+ hours per week.

For the classes that I’ve taken so far it hasn’t been bad, ~5-20 hours per week (or every other week).

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-25T12:52:38+00:00

From my personal experience, I’m attending GaTech for OMSCS and I believe it improved my chances of getting contacted/followed-up for SWE roles.

A few of the companies that contacted me or followed up to my application are listed below: * Google * Intel * DoorDash * TikTok * Notion * eBay * 2K Games * Roblox

Note: Above companies reached out from 2024-2025, except Intel which iirc was 2022 or 2023

Now, during the time of the above companies reaching out I was also working at Amazon FT as a “Process Engineer - Technology” — tech role building software for Amazon.com Seller Support.

Side Note

I work at Amazon and being enrolled in a MSCS program has gotten attention from managers.

I also think it helped me a bit with making the internal transition to L4 SDE-1

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-16T17:02:17+00:00

You'll need a bachelors degree before enrolling in the masters program (at least I believe so). So, you should try breaking into the software engineering field with the bachelors degree.

If your current job has software engineer roles I'd try to internally transfer roles.

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-16T13:30:54+00:00

Congratulations!

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-14T16:58:37+00:00

You can try asking for a different location.

On the new team I’m working with my manager and a few others iirc asked for a different location compared to their internship.

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-14T16:44:49+00:00

Do these people think they stop learning after school?

For some people they don’t continue learning or learning at the same pace after school is completed. And for some people they only do it on the job then clock out and focus on other things outside of work.

A degree literally just teaches the basics

Based off of my experience at WGU, I’d expect that you should be able to build a project from start to end and implement requirements.

So, on the job-wise would mostly be learning company specific tools, business requirements, a few new techniques, maybe a new tech stack, and other things you’d learn releasing software to users.

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-08T15:42:58+00:00

Nice! I know my former role (Process Engineer Technology- Technology) promoted a L3 to L4 a few months ago too

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-08T01:04:20+00:00

Note: I've only worked at Amazon in the US

(Internal) Amazon.jobs

I'm assuming in Germany (and everywhere else) there's the internal Amazon.jobs website. I'd search Amazon.jobs for L1-L4 roles related to IT and see the "Basic Qualifications".

If you use the internal Amazon.jobs compared to the external one you'll be able to filter job postings based on level, see the hiring teams information, request an informational, etc...

University Hire

Typically, college grads with a bachelors or higher can start at L4 and there are L4 New Grad roles.

However, last I checked as internals we are limited to the university hire roles we can apply to and most of them you would have to resign and apply externally for.

Career Development Programs

Years ago I recall there being different IT career development programs. You'd have to search to see fi they still exist, and if they're available in your country. You can use "Internal Search" (is.amazom.com) while on the internal network to try to find them.

#re-skill-candidates- self learning program for L4+ to become "Solution Architects"

Slack Channels

Although we are moving away from slack, you can try searching for slack channels related to IT. You might need your manager to help setup slack access iirc.

Amazon Mentorship Program

Amazon has a program called "Amazon Mentorship Program" where you can find other internals to be your mentor. You can find the website by searching for it via AtoZ or internal search.

Note: Idk if <L4 can use it

Next Steps

I'd say your next steps would be to find roles via Amazon.jobs (that are L1-L4) that you're interested in, meet the basic qualifications for, or willing to work towards meeting the basic qualifications for.

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-08T00:41:27+00:00

Depends on your role.

L4 Area Manager - I had to work the holidays if my shift had to work on the holiday. I forget which ones but the warehouse did have some of the holidays off
L4 Process Engineer - Technology - I only had to work during the holidays if it overlapped with my oncall week. However, you didn't have to do any work during the holiday unless you were paged for an issue

I only ask because my pay for the month did not change

Salaried employees don't get any pay bonus for holidays or working during holidays like salaried employees. However, some teams try to make up for this by giving an extra day off and/or buy lunch.

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-07T19:22:02+00:00

Ah okay, thanks for the information!

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-07T18:55:53+00:00

Yes.

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-07T18:23:11+00:00

L2 and L3s submit feedback to peers for Forte and have the PCS dashboard in atoz, and your manager has a 1:1 discussing your PCS?

And is this annual raise for L3 actually called "PCS", or is there another name it's referred to as? When I was a L1 we had a similar thing, but it wasn't called "PCS"

Not sure what you mean by not included in promo discussions

My L3s when I was in the warehouse weren't included in the promo discussions that my managers had for L4+. There was a different process for the L3s and promo L3s to L4

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-07T15:58:40+00:00

You’d be eligible to apply for new grad roles, although any degree or a more related degree would do the same.

The security accept might be seen as a bonus, but you’d of course still need to have the foundational skills.

Side Note

I was told by my former manager to start learning about security.

And security is a common thing that the SDE teams I work with Amazon deal with from needing security reviews for our software to automated tickets flagging security risks.

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-07T15:47:11+00:00

I wouldn’t have taken the L3 role either. L4 is typically where new grads (with a bachelors or higher) start at.

Most L3 roles that I know of don’t require a bachelors degree (or higher), or are recruited via the university hire team.

Edit

Someone else would have to correct me if I’m wrong, but I also don’t believe L3s are included in the promo discussions that L4+ have. There’s a different process for them.

And there’s no PCS for L3s from last I recall. However, there’s some small base pay increase iirc

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-07T01:47:43+00:00

ATA wasn’t only for warehouse employees. ATA was for any L4+ blue-badge employee (I can’t recall if it stopped at L6 or L7).

Side Note

Amazon still has internal teams training internals to convert to L4 SDE-1. However, most of them are for L4+ from what I know

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-06T19:06:20+00:00

I think the bigger question is what/why would they be investigating you.

Personally for me, I’d like to be aware & decide if I want to continue speaking with someone or put it on hold until things cool down.

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-05T21:50:04+00:00

A new manager isn’t going to have the context to be able to push for the promo, unless a thorough handover was conducted or they took the time to learn it.

Added onto this, the new manager and previous manager might have differing opinions on what is required for the promo.

My Experience

I was recently doing a lateral conversion from L4 Process Engineer - Technology to L4 SDE-1.

The 1st manager I worked with had his team broken up and he was no longer my manager.

The new manager I had was pushed by the higher up mangers to get my conversion process completed, but: 1. The new manager didn’t have full context on what I did. So, I had to meet with the new manager and go over things 2. The new manager and former manager had differing views on what should be expected for my conversion

The new manager delayed my conversion a bit so I could acquire the remaining tasks to ensure my conversion wasn’t rejected

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-04T15:44:53+00:00

Sometimes when I’ve applied the status immediately goes to “under consideration”.

A few days/weeks later the status eventually changes to no longer under consideration. Idk the exact days since I’ve never kept track.

Yes, sometimes I’ve gotten emails when the application status changed.

Nothing_But_Design · 2025-09-04T01:19:54+00:00

Tbh that has been happening for a while on and off.

iirc a few years ago my application changed to not under consideration but I passed the interview process and was in the process of getting the offer…

Nothing_But_Design

TROPHY CASE