Indian-Origin UX Designer Details Strategic Career Move from Amazon to Google
A 29-year-old Indian-origin UX designer based in Seattle has provided a detailed account of his deliberate career transition, explaining why he left a promising position at Amazon to join Google after conducting interviews with all five major technology corporations in the United States.
Ganesh Karthik Sankar maintained his interview processes with other leading tech firms even after commencing his role at Amazon, driven by a desire to comprehend how different employers assess candidates and to identify the optimal environment for his professional capabilities.
Comprehensive Interview Experience Across MAANG Companies
Sankar's experience encompasses interviews with Meta, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google—collectively known among job seekers as the MAANG companies, according to Business Insider. He joined Amazon as a product designer in April 2025, initially expressing genuine excitement about the opportunity to work on large-scale projects alongside receiving a significant compensation increase.
Despite these favorable conditions, Sankar deliberately continued pursuing other interview opportunities after starting his Amazon position. His decision to transition to Google materialized when the company extended an offer for a UX designer role in February 2026 that closely aligned with his expertise and provided enhanced compensation. He officially commenced his new position at Google earlier this month.
Strategic Job Search Methodology
Sankar initiated his job search in late 2024 while serving as a senior UX designer at Qualcomm in San Diego. His primary motivations included seeking work with broader impact on projects affecting millions of users and securing improved financial compensation.
To prepare effectively, he meticulously tailored his resume and portfolio to highlight his strengths in complex enterprise software design and technical developer tools. By focusing his applications exclusively on roles matching this specialized niche, Sankar reported receiving a substantial number of interview callbacks.
His strategic approach involved:
- Refining application materials to emphasize domain expertise
- Targeting specific roles aligned with his experience
- Avoiding generic applications to maximize relevance
Dual Approach: Networking and Direct Outreach
Sankar employed a dual strategy combining referrals with cold outreach to secure interviews. He maintained active participation in the design community through organizational memberships, event attendance, and engagement with alumni networks. His involvement in specialized groups like the Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction facilitated numerous professional connections.
Referrals proved instrumental in securing interviews at Amazon, Google, and Meta. At Amazon, he received a referral for a product designer position within their enterprise customer service division, progressing through online assessments, recruiter conversations, and hiring manager interviews.
Similarly, Google's referral process for a UX designer role followed comparable stages of assessment and portfolio discussions. Meta's interview opportunity also originated from a referral, with Sankar noting the company's particular emphasis on visual design during their hiring evaluation.
Successful Cold Application Strategies
Not all interviews resulted from referrals. Sankar applied directly to Apple without a referral, subsequently receiving outreach from a recruiter via email that led to a complete interview process. For Netflix, he applied through LinkedIn and followed up with a targeted email to a hiring manager, which he credits with helping secure an interview opportunity.
Sankar emphasized that directly contacting hiring managers can yield positive results when executed strategically, focusing on roles that genuinely align with one's experience rather than employing mass messaging approaches.
Comparative Analysis: Why Google Prevailed Over Amazon
Even after establishing himself at Amazon, Sankar continued interviewing with other companies to enable comprehensive opportunity comparison and understand different employer priorities. He observed that both Amazon and Google demonstrated greater openness to candidates with relevant but not perfectly matched backgrounds compared to some competitors.
He noted that Apple and Netflix appeared to seek candidates whose experience aligned extremely closely with specific role requirements. Ultimately, Google's offer distinguished itself through its precise alignment with his domain expertise and meaningful compensation enhancement, prompting his career transition.
Sankar concluded that intentional role targeting proved more crucial than relying exclusively on referrals. He encourages job seekers to consider strategic cold outreach when appropriate, particularly when tailored to hiring managers in areas where candidates possess substantial expertise.
