SLOANREVIEW.MIT.EDU SPRING 2020 MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENTREVIEW 19
learning to medicine and transportation,
if someone is interested, there will always
be an opportunity at Amazon to explore
it. Amazon doesn’t require employees to
stay in a role for a minimum period be-
fore transferring to a new position. Nor
is there a requirement that people must
remain employed with Amazon after
completing an upskilling program.
What do you think Amazon’s work-
force is going to look like in, say, 2030?
What new skills will employees need?
WILLIAMS: The line between tech and
nontech, or between STEM and non-STEM,
is blurring rapidly. Earlier, technology
was isolated; now, it’s almost impossible
to find a job that doesn’t have technology
infused in it — and that’s the real disrupter.
Even careers that have been tradition-
ally identified as nontechnical will require
foundational technical expertise tomor-
row. We will need people who can identify
the problem to be solved from a sea of
data, communicate that problem cogently,
assemble the right team to tackle the
problem, work collaboratively with a team
that has a wide range of skills and abilities,
and bring the right technology to bear in
order to innovate for customers.
Does Amazon plan to roll out its work-
force education programs to other
companies as a business venture?
WILLIAMS: The purpose of Amazon’s
upskilling initiative is to ensure that our
employees can migrate into more-technical
roles, at Amazon or elsewhere, through
training and career support. We share
our Career Choice program for free with
other companies and learn from them
so that we can increase the impact of
our programs.
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