Indeed improves developer productivity with skilled workforce trained on AWS

To support rapid growth, Indeed needed infrastructure that could scale globally without compromising reliability. “Our data-driven systems help millions find jobs, so our technology must be reliable and scalable,” says Susan Calland, Senior Engineer, Cloud Center of Excellence at Indeed. In 2020, an ice storm disrupted one of Indeed’s major data centers in Austin, accelerating its transition to a cloud-first strategy. Within 18 months, Indeed migrated customer-facing products, business-critical workloads, and more than 30 PB of data to AWS.

 

Once stabilized on AWS Global Infrastructure, a new challenge emerged: ensuring people and processes could keep pace. Indeed needed globally distributed teams to operate, secure, and improve the environment consistently—standardizing architecture, reliability, security, and resiliency—while advancing AI and ML initiatives. The company set out to build a scalable, role-appropriate cloud enablement model that established a common knowledge baseline, clear specialization pathways, and hands-on learning embedded in day-to-day work.

Indeed collaborated with AWS Training and Certification to build foundational cloud skills, validate technical expertise, and encourage hands-on learning. First, the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate training program gave employees a shared baseline of cloud knowledge. “As our program advanced and became more personalized, everything would build on this foundational knowledge,” says Calland. As the training expanded, employees engaged with learning pathways tailored to their roles, setting the stage for more specialized upskilling across the business.

 

To build a future-ready workforce and deepen AWS expertise across the organization, Indeed shifted from centralized training to a self-service learning model, forming a dedicated Cloud Enablement Team to guide this transformation. “Our new decentralized training model reflects the company’s growing cloud fluency,” says Calland. In 2023, Indeed adopted AWS Skill Builder to scale cloud training more efficiently. With on-demand access to curated courses across areas such as AI and ML, employees were soon creating personalized learning journeys at their own pace. “AWS Skill Builder gave our teams the flexibility to focus on what they needed, when they needed it,” adds Calland.

To boost engagement, Indeed combined structured learning with gamification. For example, employees used AWS Cloud Quest to explore lab environments through interactive role-playing simulations. “The labs weren’t your typical follow-the-instruction exercises,” says Calland. “After learning each skill, you go through a lab session where you have to find the answers on your own. We found these to be great for knowledge retention.” There were also AWS Cloud Quest Tournaments, where employees competed in virtual challenges using avatars, gems, and puzzles. “People were surprised by just how much fun the tournaments were,” Calland reflects. “Many were getting up on the weekend, grabbing a cup of coffee, and going to learn.”

 

So far, approximately 1,500 staff have engaged with AWS Skill Builder and Cloud Quest. To recognize top learners, Indeed offered over 250 AWS Certification vouchers—all claimed immediately—and awarded 100 limited-edition AWS Challenge Coins to high performers. “We wanted to create a sense of excitement and recognition around learning,” says Calland. “It worked better than we imagined.”

Indeed has accelerated service adoption, improved efficiency, and unlocked new opportunities for innovation. Calland says, “Everyone should have AWS training at their fingertips because it gives them the skills and confidence to investigate, innovate, and build something impactful.” As teams grew more confident with AWS, they began exploring next-generation services like Amazon SageMaker to fine-tune open-source large language models and improve job match accuracy. When Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) Tables launched in late 2024, employees immediately turned to AWS Skill Builder to understand and begin applying the service.

 

Meanwhile, executive leadership is engaging in generative AI education to align business strategy with emerging technologies. Indeed has built a learning culture that spans all levels of the organization—accelerating adoption, reducing reliance on support, and helping ensure AWS services are used efficiently and in line with best practices. To encourage this culture, Indeed runs quarterly learning competitions.

 

The company is also implementing AWS services more effectively. Well-trained teams now require less support, thanks to a deeper understanding of how AWS services function. One employee in the data analytics team has completed 27 AWS Skill Builder programs, significantly enhancing their effectiveness in the role. “We’ve seen a sharp decline in basic AWS questions, which is a direct reflection of our growing AWS maturity—and the confidence our teams now have in using AWS services,” says Calland.

 

Looking ahead, Indeed plans to decentralize training even further. “We have personnel worldwide in multiple time zones who are best placed to know their training requirements and therefore could be self-serving through AWS Skill Builder,” says Calland. “I see our training becoming even more targeted, and a huge increase in gamified learning. It’s been extremely successful.”