Hey Everyone, I hope you are staying fit and healthy. This is my experience interviewing with Amazon for the SDE-2 level but my offer was downgraded to SDE-1. Here are some takeaways from my interview experience. I am unable to provide specific questions that I was asked since I signed an NDA but I will be able to guide you on how your intention should be while facing interviews in general at Amazon/any company.
It started in the month of November 2021, when a recruiter out of the blue reached out to me for an SDE-2 position, though I wasn't prepared or had any courage to attempt it, I just told the recruiter we are going ahead and I am interested in this position, I just believed there is nothing to lose if attempted, rather than not attempting it.
The process is very similar to that everyone has, first was an Online Assessment which has 2 questions in it and you need to explain your approach as well, followed by a Workstyle assessment where you need to answer a question that is more likely to be done given a situation. After that, there are some System design questions that are scenario-based, something like what would you do or trade-off given this situation. There are 3 scenarios with multiple questions to answer.
After clearing the Online Assessment and System design rounds, I was invited to a Phone Interview round for about one hour, though it says a phone interview you need to turn your webcam on. It was such a round that was used to filter the candidate on whether the candidate should be moved further to a virtual on-site round. The phone interview went really well, It consists of a Leadership Principle(LP) and a graph question, I was able to solve it within the time given and I was asked a follow-up question after that, though I have fumbled upon the follow-up question the interviewer told he was satisfied with my thinking process and expected me to hear from the recruiter soon.
Eventually, I was invited to a virtual-onsite round. It consisted of four rounds.
Round 1:(Data Structures and Algorithms — 1 hour)
Every round starts with an LP question, you need to be thorough with each and every LP at amazon, The discussion goes on for around 15–20 mins, so have some solid examples for each LP and be prepared to answer it in a STAR format. (https://www.amazon.jobs/en/landing_pages/in-person-interview — checkout STAR method tab)
After discussing LP, I was asked about a DSA problem related to graphs which involves applying a DFS algorithm. I was able to solve it within the time and answered the follow-up question as well. Fumbled in calculating its Time complexity and Space complexity but the interviewer was satisfied with my thinking process.
Round 2:(Basic High-level Design — 1hour)
This round went super great, Standard question about LP and I was able to answer that very effectively since my experience had helped to answer that question the discussion went for about 20–25mins. After that, I was asked to give a basic design for an algorithmic question that involves arrays and Trie Data Structure. I was able to solve within the time given and gave the optimal that the interviewer is expecting. There is some time left and the interviewer is discussing regarding the team how it is structured and what does he do, and also told me that this where I could fit in (which is a very good discussion to have :P). This interviewer gave me a lot of boosts moving forward.
Round 3 (System Design — 1 hour):
The real drama begins here, not all high lasts forever. The interview was very rough, it was also a standard discussion on LP which went up to 30 mins of discussion, the interviewer was not all satisfied with my answers and asked many follow up questions, after this, I was asked a very standard system design question but I fumbled a lot during the design, like how am I going to develop the algorithm, what are the trade-offs that I need to do and so on. This round went really bad but I was able to regain my confidence at last by discussing with the interviewer what went wrong and what I could have done better, not many interviewers give immediate feedback. Trust your thinking process it has to be very structured.
Round 4: (Data Structures and Algorithms — 1 hour)
After that rough round, I was able to gain some confidence and attempted the last round, It was a straightforward round with an LP question and a DS question involving arrays. I was able to solve it within the time given.
And at last, the results were out, so I was offered the SDE-1 position in Prime video team as opposed to SDE-2. I felt that if I had aced the system design round then I would have been offered the SDE-2 position. I was satisfied with my performance, I started with no expectations and I am offered an SDE-1 position for which I felt grateful.
Interview tips that helped me:
- Read back the question to the interviewer, explain what you have understood which I felt is the necessary and important step to be done, if you don't do this and try to attempt a straightforward solution, I felt like it may go wrong since the interviewer and we will not be on the same page.
- Structure your thinking process well, It is very essential to what you think and what you say to the interviewer. Take your time in understanding the question don't rush on to anything. Patience is the key.
- Practice, Practice, and Practice solve as many questions as possible, but just make sure while practicing think about every question as an interviewed one and try to solve it in a timed fashion. It definitely helps.
- Leadership principles are valued a lot at Amazon, As said have solid examples before at least 2 examples for each LP. Check this out (https://scarletinked.medium.com/are-you-the-leader-were-looking-for-interviewing-at-amazon-8301d787815d)
Don't stress out, Hardwork doesn't take you anywhere. I believe there is no hard work. If you love some work and you try to accomplish that definitely is not hardwork. It’s a work that you have enjoyed achieving.
