Inside the Expert-Led Program Fueling Walmart’s Global Tech Talent

Walmart is a powerhouse of talent, with over 115 alumni becoming CEOs at other companies. We have a rich culture of developing homegrown talent and industry-leading experts making an impact at unmatched scale. Walmart Academy, the largest private training program in the country, is dedicated to equipping our next generation of leaders with the skills they need to be successful and to help the company win the future of retail. 

In 2022 we expanded the Academy globally to all 2.1 million associates, whether they’re working in a facility or in our Home Office. That includes the more than 28,000 Walmart Global tech associates helping bring our people-led, tech-powered vision to life. 

Introducing Tech Fellows Academy 

We recently upped our game by partnering with Walmart’s in-house experts – tech fellows – to launch a new Fellows Academy with monthly learning sessions for Global Tech associates.  

The concept is simple: Walmart is home to some of the best tech talent in the world, and this new program gives all tech associates the chance to learn first-hand from those experts. The end result: world-class engineering talent. 

Maren Waggoner, Senior Vice President, People for Global Technology and Corporate Functions, on the vision behind the program: “We created the Tech Fellows Academy at Walmart to accelerate innovation through real-world learning, hands-on demos and the power of shared stories. The partnership with our Fellow community and empowering them as teachers has been phenomenal. It's a bold step to foster a thriving, connected community across Global Tech—where knowledge flows freely and impact scales fast.” 

Part of our new Home Office learning strategy, Fellows Academy represents a critical investment in the future of work at Walmart. By fostering continuous learning and professional development, we’re preparing associates to meet the ever-evolving demands of the retail and tech industries so they can: 

• Stay ahead of technological advancements with mentorship and cutting-edge insights 

• Develop skills that are crucial for future roles  

• Contribute to Walmart’s strategic goals with enhanced expertise  

Meet the Fellows  

Each month, our tech fellows present on key tech topics. The inaugural "World Class Engineering" session was led by Senior Technical Fellow Sukumar Rathnam. He emphasized: 

• The customer/seller/associate/developer impact of maintaining high engineering standards. 

• The rapidly evolving nature of what engineers do. 

• Our ongoing platformization journey 

• Continuously improving our domain models, abstractions and APIs 

• Treating developer productivity, availability, scalability and cloud cost efficiency as integral to the functional definition of a product/service.  

We’re planning monthly sessions throughout the year and will focus on the hottest tech topics and trends. This month, the focus is on " Making the Walmart Stack Multi-Tennant" in a session led by another Tech Fellow, Frederic Desjarlais. 

Teaching the Teachers  

Ahead of the first session, our Walmart Academy team trained the tech fellows on facilitation skills, leveraging content from our world-class Academy Experience program. This ensures each fellow not only has deep technical expertise but also excels in conveying complex ideas in an engaging and accessible manner.  

Early Returns: Associates Love It 

The feedback from sponsors and participants has been overwhelmingly positive. Here's a sampling of other comments we received: 

• "Loved the explanation of world-class engineering."  

• "The session was informative and inspiring. It's great to understand the point of view from a Fellow, which will help teams align architecturally driving towards the same vision."  

• "Highly valuable engineering advice in a simplified and concise manner, which I found to be insightful."  

• "The overall approach of the topic, world-class engineering, from a personal view filled with experiences and expertise, was easy to understand and assimilate. This will definitely help me in my current role and prepare me for future opportunities."  

Just the Beginning  

By embedding a culture of lifelong learning and leveraging the expertise of our tech fellows, Walmart ensures that our associates are not just ready for the challenges of today but are also equipped to drive the innovations of tomorrow.