The term refers to a software development engineer intern at Amazon who is assigned to a role considered interchangeable or standard. The position typically involves contributing to projects where the skills and tasks are common across multiple teams, offering flexibility in deployment. For example, an intern may work on developing common API endpoints used by different services, ensuring consistent data access across the platform.
Such roles can provide benefits to both the intern and the organization. For the intern, it offers a broad range of experience across various teams and technologies, allowing them to develop a well-rounded skillset and gain exposure to different software development practices. For Amazon, it allows for efficient allocation of resources to meet fluctuating demands across projects and provides a pipeline for evaluating potential full-time employees within diverse team environments. Historically, these roles have been crucial for managing peak workloads and providing support for large-scale projects.
