Amazon is stuffing warehouses with machines and paying humans to become the people those machines cannot do without. I am Eddie C, still on rideshare while I learn markets. A paid apprenticeship on a robot-filled floor is a ladder that is actually posted.
The ladder
Amazon’s Mechatronics and Robotics Apprenticeship offers 12 weeks of paid classroom training, then 2,000 hours of paid mentorship. It teaches electricity, mechanicals, fluid power, and PLCs. No previous technical experience is required; Amazon says graduates receive a certificate and a guaranteed full-time RME role.
Amazon says pay continues through training, with up to $21,500 more per year versus a typical entry-level fulfillment wage. Those are company figures, not a universal $30/hour guarantee.
The million robots and downside
Amazon said it deployed its 1 millionth robot across 300+ facilities. It also says 700,000+ employees have been upskilled and a Shreveport building needs more reliability, maintenance, and engineering people. More robots, more wrenches.
CNBC reported CEO Andy Jassy expects fewer people in some jobs. The ladder is real. The shrink comment is real.
Honest takeaway / way through
MRA is a posted path toward repairing robots that ate repetitive tasks. Robots create wrench demand and delete picker demand. Climb the side that needs a human with a meter and a certificate while the bridge app pays rent.
— Eddie C, Driving in Style LLC / Hustle On Hustle
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