This is a weird take. Of course it's easier when people know you. Why would the hiring manager hire someone they don't know without an interview? Asking to talk to 2-3 people is very reasonable. It's not a full loop, it's whatever the hiring manager decides to do.If you happen to have strong documentation to show about things you contributed, that helps too. When I said it's easy I meant that there are no requirements from Amazon you need to follow in order to switch teams (e.g., be on a team for at least X months, have a rating of at least Y, etc). You just need to find a hiring manager that is willing to hire you. Given that external hiring is hard at Amazon, many managers build their teams just with internal transfers.