After clearing the Initial Online assessment with 2 [1 easy 1 medium similar to once in LC] coding questions and workstyle questioner I was scheduled for The Loop.
Loop Day. There were in total 4 rounds, 55 min each. Structure of those were similar.
First 20 Min questions about Leadership Principles
Next 30 Min coding/design question
Next 5 Min are for you to ask questions
First round: I guess this was a "Bar Raiser", System Design question. It was fairly straightforward system to design. I focused too much on Non-Functional requirements. It was only after the interviewer asked multilpe scenarios towards the end I've realized that i've not explained the functional components of the system and I started to add those.
Lession Learned: - Start with functional requrements, draw modules/components that fulfill the FRs. Don't put cart before the horse.
Second round: This was with relatively junior member of the team. I was given set of requirements and asked to implement 3 methods to solve it. I did ask some clarifying questions and started to code. Interviewer asked question on the choise of data structure etc. I misunderstood one of the requirements and implemented and when asked to explain, interviewer pointed out it was wrong. - This was strange round for me, it was neither DSA heavy nor it was OOD (i've asked if I need to draw class diagram and intercations). I guess they just want to see how you handle ambiguous requirements. I was not able to map it to what i've prepared for and this threw me off track a bit :)
Lession Learned: - Start by undestanding all the requirements and clarify those. Write pseudocode and validate it by running couple of examples before jumping to write solution.
After 2 interviews there was 1 hour break.
Third round :- This was standard medium complexity LC question. I started with brute force and moved on to implement more efficient solution. - I was feeling condifent in this round.
Fourth round :- This was, I believe with the Hiring manager, it was the most fun interview. The inverviewer was very talkative and a pleasant personality overall. The question was similar to the one in second round, I did spend considerable about of time in clarifying the requirements and writing the pseudocode and validating it by running few edge cases and changing the steps a bit. After I was happy with the approach I coded it. This was the most successfull amongst all 4 rounds of the day.
Overall Impression:- Actual interview questions are not that difficult or obscure. One just needs to remain calm and don't start coding untill all the requirements are clarified and you've thought out your approach. It is easier said that done when you've a ticking clock, the actual time you get to solve the quetsion is 30 min. But. if your approach is clear, coding it hardly takes any time.
About Leadership Principles :- Amazon takes it really seriosly, they spend 40% of interview time on those. Be prepared to answer them in STAR format. I guess my answers to LP questions were not crisp.
My overall interviewing experience was really positive. I am planning to attempt it again next year.