A Journey of Scholarship, Mentorship, and Internship: My Experience as an AFE-Amazon Scholar

Hello everyone, I am Disha Timbadiya, a 2nd-year computer science student at Dharmsinh Desai University. I am an AFE-Amazon scholar and an upcoming SE (Support Engineer) summer intern at Amazon. I am excited to share my scholarship, mentorship, and internship experience through this article.

It is to be noted that the views represented in this blog are the personal views of the writer and neither of Amazon nor Codess.Cafe.

Application Process for FFE-AFE Scholarship:

Eligibility Criteria: 1st-year undergraduate female students from computer and IT-related branches with specific income criteria.

In my 1st year, a classmate informed me about this opportunity, and I applied for the FFE scholarship program in early December 2022. After submitting the application form, I received an email from FFE for an interview round.

Application Form:

The application form contained the following fields:

- Personal details

- Education details

- Family details

- 4–5 essay questions:

1. What is your ambition in life?

2. Who has inspired you the most until now?

3. About your strengths and weaknesses.

4. How would you describe your family’s income/living conditions?

5. When you start earning, in what ways do you think you could help others?

Interview Round Questions (January 2022):

Platform: Zoom Meeting

Duration: 30–45 minutes

Questions:

1. Related to academic performance

2. Why do you want to be a part of this program?

3. What would you do if you received this scholarship?

4. About your achievements and talents

Note: This interview round is conducted by one facilitator and one member of the FFE team, and you should have one parent with you during this interview. Overall, the interview went smoothly, especially considering that my interviewer was also an alum from my college.

Result of Interview Round (27 March 2023):

500 girls were awarded this scholarship. In the first year, we received 40,000 rupees. From the second year onwards, the scholarship amount increased to 50,000 rupees. Additionally, support is provided in the form of a laptop.

Afterward, there was a boot camp based on Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA) using Java and project work.

Orientation:

Start Date: 12 May 2023

End Date: 30 January 2024

Classes were held on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There were 5 groups, each containing 100 students with a supportive instructor. During the program, core subjects of computer science such as Core Java, DSA, basics of Linux, OS, CN, software testing, DBMS, etc were covered. Homework questions and classwork questions (Around 500+ questions)were also given for practice.

Post this, dates were announced for the final selection test for the Amazon summer internship. There were 7 roles available for the summer internship:

1. SDE — Software Development Engineer

2. SYSDE — System Development Engineer

3. SE — Support Engineer

4. BIE — Business Intelligence Engineer

5. DE — Data Engineer

6. QAE — Quality Assurance Engineer

7. SDET — Software Development Engineer in Test

>> Test

The final test date was 3–4 February 2024, and the test link was open for the whole day.

Test Platform: Mettl

Test Duration: 3 hours (2 DSA coding questions and 38 MCQs)

Test Syllabus:

1. Data Structures — 4 Questions

2. Algorithms — 3 Questions

3. Linux — 3 Questions

4. Pseudo Codes (Basic + Scripting languages) — 4 Questions

5. Networking — 3 Questions

6. Software Testing Methodologies + Software Testing Concepts — 6 Questions

7. Database Query Languages — 3 Questions

8. Operating System — 3 Questions

9. OOPS Concepts — 3 Questions

10. Data Visualization & Reporting — 3 Questions

11. Data Modeling and Warehousing Concepts — 3 Questions

Note: The number of questions is just for reference; there may be some changes.

The test link was sent before 3–4 days of the test to check system compatibility (1 February 2024). All students on both Slots received different coding questions and MCQs in the test.

Test Questions:

- 2 DSA Questions (easy to medium level LeetCode)

- MCQs (medium to hard level)

- I was able to solve 2/ 2 DSA problems. And 30+ MCQs.

Test Result (15 March 2024):

Result of Cohort 2 AFE:

Out of 500 scholars, 130 scholars secured internships.

Resources:

Here are a few resources that I used to learn the core subjects. They helped me a lot to perform well.

1. YouTube channels: Striver, Ravindra Ravula.
2. Practice Questions: Company-wise DSA questions and experience articles on GFG, Striver (A to Z sheet), and Leetcode (Medium level Questions).
3. Github: for CP.

Tips:

1. Code quality matters a lot, so focus on improving it.
2. Practice coding questions daily with a timer and try to think of 2–3 approaches for the same question.
3. Always analyze the time complexity and space complexity of every question; it will be helpful in interviews for sure.
4. Maintain a proper balance between DSA and development.
5. Regularly revise core subjects.
6. Having a good group of friends or a community where you can share your ideas, get advice, and receive feedback on your work is really helpful. I was fortunate to be a member of the Codess.cafe community, and being part of it gave me the right guidance and resources I needed.

Feel free to contact me on LinkedIn for any questions or inquiries!

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