When I tell people I work at Amazon I usually get asked 2 questions:

• Can I have a free Prime membership?
• or, How can I become an Amazon Developer?

Unfortunately, there is no magical guide to the question they are really asking, which is: 'How can I get a job at Amazon?'. However, learning about the whole world of Amazon development (that doesn't actually require you to work at Amazon) definitely can't hurt your chances!

As a React Native Developer Advocate for Amazon Appstore, I've learned that being an "Amazon developer" can mean anything from creating apps for Amazon devices, to integrating cloud computing solutions. Amazon's ecosystem provides numerous paths for developers to explore, so, this article is a guide of the different opportunities and where to get started:

Amazon's Developer Ecosystem

1. Amazon Appstore

The Amazon Appstore is Amazon's equivalent of Google Play / Apple's App Store. It is used for distributing apps, primarily for the Amazon Fire devices e.g. Fire Tablet. To build Apps for Amazon Appstore you can use Java / Kotlin for native Android development or React Native / Flutter / other cross-platform frameworks.

To learn more how to become an Amazon Appstore developer:

• Checkout out the developer portal
• Experiment with samples on GitHub
• Join the developer community
• Watch tutorials on YouTube
• Read our blog
• Follow me and my Team (Gio, Chris, Neha, Olivia & Moses)

2. Amazon Web Services (AWS)

AWS is Amazon's cloud computing platform, offering over 200 fully featured services. You can use AWS for multiple things ranging from building scalable web apps to managing and orchestrating containerised applications!

To learn more on how to become an AWS developer:

• Check out the developer portal
• Get AWS certified (e.g., AWS Certified Developer - Associate)
• Join the developer community

AWS Amplify

AWS includes, AWS Amplify which is a set of tools and services for building full-stack applications in iOS, Android, Flutter, Web, and React Native. Amplify allows you to rapidly develop and deploying full-stack web applications as well as build cross-platform mobile apps with integrated backend service. This means you can use AWS Amplify to build apps for Amazon Appstore!

To learn more on how to build Apps with AWS Amplify:

• Watch how we (Appstore x Amplify) built, monetised, submitted, and scaled an app all in an hour here
• Check out the developer portal
• Join the developer community
• Take a course

3. Alexa Skills Kit

Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) allows developers to create voice apps for Alexa-enabled devices.

To learn more on how to to become an Alexa developer:

• Check out the developer portal

Hopefully this helps!

If you feel catfished by the article title and are interested in working directly for Amazon, you can check out our open roles here. Otherwise, do let me know which journey you are excited to take or are currently on ⬇️