Beth Galetti, Amazon's Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology, wrote 100,000 lines of code with AI assistance after a 25-year break from software development. Galetti, who last coded in the late 1990s, detailed the experience in a piece on Amazon News, describing how she used Amazon's internal AI tools to build working applications despite her long absence from programming.
Galetti started her career as a software developer before moving into leadership roles across Amazon's transportation and HR divisions. She decided to test whether AI could help her code again, beginning with a family calendaring app. Working with AI tools, she built a functional application within hours.
That early success led to a bigger challenge. On a flight, Galetti used Kiro, Amazon's AI-powered development tool, to build a submission app for the company's internal "Everyone Can Build" competition. The contest invited employees from all technical backgrounds to create solutions using AI.
A company-wide experiment in AI-assisted development
More than 1,500 employees participated in the competition. One participant automated a four-hour manual process into a one-second check, saving tens of thousands of hours annually. Another built a desktop pet that handled tasks and reminders.
Galetti described the experience in personal terms: "The more I used these tools, the more natural the process became, and the more I realized my potential." She also relied on Aza, Amazon's internal AI workplace assistant, to handle the initial setup steps.
Previously, non-technical employees needed significant help from developers to build internal tools. Amazon's current approach changes that dynamic. Kiro lets users describe what they want in plain language, and the AI helps plan, write, and test the code. Amazon Quick, another AI assistant, supports data analysis, research, and workflow automation.
These tools are now available both internally and externally. Aza answers HR and IT questions instantly, reducing friction in daily operations. For developers and IT professionals, the practical implication is clear: AI-assisted development is moving from novelty to standard practice, and the barrier to entry keeps dropping. That's why an AI Learning Path for Software Developers is worth considering - the skills Galetti used are becoming baseline expectations across technical roles.
Amazon's $2.5 billion bet on workforce skills
Amazon is also investing heavily in training. The company committed $2.5 billion to its "Future Ready 2030" initiative, which aims to equip at least 50 million people with skills for future jobs. The program connects education directly to employment outcomes.
Initiatives like Amazon Future Engineer, AWS Educate, and apprenticeships target students and employees. Amazon's Career Choice program, which prepays tuition for degrees and skills development, is receiving an additional $1 billion as part of Future Ready 2030. Focus areas include cybersecurity, software development, logistics, and renewable energy.
Amazon offers free AI training to all employees, including the full cost of one AWS AI certification exam per year. That move makes advanced skill acquisition accessible without personal financial risk.
For IT professionals, the broader trend matters more than Amazon's internal numbers. Microsoft's Copilot and Google's AI assistants are pushing similar changes across their ecosystems. The question is no longer whether AI tools will be part of software development, but how quickly teams adopt them. Resources like AI for IT & Development content can help working professionals track those shifts and identify which skills to build next.
Why this matters for IT and development professionals
Galetti's story is a concrete example of how AI lowers the barrier to entry for coding. She is not a software engineer - she is an HR executive who wrote 100,000 lines of code with AI assistance. That has direct implications for how development teams are structured.
If non-technical employees can build functional tools with AI, the role of professional developers shifts toward reviewing, integrating, and maintaining AI-generated code rather than writing everything from scratch. Teams that ignore this trend risk being seen as bottlenecks. Teams that embrace it can focus on higher-value work.
The competitive pressure is real. Amazon's StartupHub score of 81/100 reflects its position in AI-powered developer tools, while competitors like Inter IKEA Group (70/100) and Wayfair (59/100) face expectations to match these employee empowerment efforts. For developers, the practical takeaway is straightforward: AI-assisted coding skills are becoming a differentiator, and the tools are accessible enough that the barrier to entry is no longer technical expertise - it's willingness to practice.
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