The only way to get a job at Amazon in Hong Kong

Candidates in Singapore have long been spoiled for choice when it comes to jobs at Amazon. Even now, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the company has 279 Singapore-based jobs on offer, including 61 for solutions architects.

However, if you’re based in Hong Kong and want to work for Amazon, you will most likely need to apply for a job in the tech firm’s data centre.

More than 80% of current Amazon jobs in Hong Kong are in its AWS (Amazon Web Services) data centre, which opened in April last year, and is the eighth one of its kind in Asia, along with Beijing, Mumbai, Ningxia, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo. 

There are several vacancies for data centre technicians, one of which was first posted back in October, suggesting the roles have been difficult to fill. These jobs require in depth experience of Linux, and knowledge of programming with Perl and Python.

Some of the positions on offer are more hardware focused. There are openings, for example, within the AWS “inside plant design and engineering team”, a new and expanding unit focused on “leading-edge research and development” to redesign the “critical arteries that connect the various pieces of hardware inside AWS’ data centers and edge sites”.

Many of the roles demand degrees in electrical or mechanical engineering (although a computer science qualification is acceptable for others). The data center facility engineer role, for example, gives you responsibility for UPS systems, power distribution equipment, cooling towers, computer room air handlers and building monitoring systems.

Meanwhile, while most banks in Hong Kong selected their 2020 interns late last year, Amazon still has three internship roles on offer – one in marketing and two in the data centre. Of the latter group, one is aimed at students pursuing Business Administration degrees (who want to build up “business operation management skills”), while the other, in data centre engineering operations, has a technology focus.

Even if you don’t want a long-term career working in a data centre, an Amazon internship is an invaluable foot in the door to securing a full-time job elsewhere in the company – potentially overseas – after you graduate, says a Hong Kong-based technology recruiter.

Photo by Piotr Cichosz on Unsplash

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