- Aritra Karmakar faced 7-8 rejections over 5 years before joining Amazon as a data engineer
- He applied via referrals and official portals but often failed initial automated resume screenings
- Aritra improved his skills and resume continuously until finally passing Amazon's technical interviews
A Bengaluru-based data engineer's journey to landing a job at Amazon has gone viral on social media after he revealed that he faced seven to eight rejections over five years before finally being hired by the tech giant. Aritra Karmakar shared his story on Instagram, speaking about the emotional toll of repeated job rejections and the importance of persistence during a difficult job search.
In the video, Aritra introduced himself as a data engineer at Amazon and recalled how he had applied to the company multiple times over several years. He said that despite continuously tweaking his resume, seeking referrals, and preparing for interviews, he repeatedly faced rejection.
Over the years, he explored different application routes, including employee referrals and the company's official job portal. However, his resume often failed to clear the initial screening stages, leading to repeated automated rejection emails without even reaching the interview round.
"No matter how much we tweak our resume, take referrals or prepare, we are still going to get rejected. Someone commented this on one of my Instagram videos. Hi, I am Aritra and I work as a data engineer at Amazon. And today I want to tell you guys a very small story. I applied to Amazon more than 7-8 times over a period of 5 years," he said.
Instead of giving up, Aritra spent those years improving his technical skills, refining his resume, and strengthening his professional profile. When his application finally passed the automated screening filters, he said his long period of preparation helped him successfully clear Amazon's technical interview rounds.
"At one point, I had two options: stop trying or keep going. I chose to keep going, and one day I finally got the interview call. This time, I was prepared enough to crack it," he added.
Watch the video here:
He also shared a message of encouragement for people dealing with career setbacks, saying that rejection is a normal part of the process and persistence eventually pays off.
"Life is unfair, competitive, and exhausting sometimes. We cannot control every rejection, but what we can control is our consistency, our preparation, and our hard work. Trust me, hard work can take us to places we have never imagined. Never stop believing in yourself, and never give up," he said.
The video has drawn widespread attention online, with many social media users calling his journey motivating and relatable for job seekers navigating repeated rejections. One user wrote, "Felt like my own journey of getting into product company ( don't care how many yrs it will take if we want it we work for it for yrs happy for u."
