[NDA] Amazon | SDE1 | Jan 2020 [Offer]
Anonymous User
14768

Status: New grad, Master of CS in Top 10 CS school
Position: SDE1 at Amazon
Date: Jan, 2020

Technical phone screen (1 hour):

  • Two LP questions
  • LC Medium question(came up with O(logn) algorithm, asked to optimise to O(1))

Onsite (4 rounds with 5 interviewers):

  • round 1: Two software engineers both asked LP questions. Followed by simple programming question on whiteboard related to course scheduling

  • round 2: Might be the bar raiser as she is not in the group I am interviewing for. Asked LP questions, also Why Amazon?

  • round 3: One software engineers. LP questions. Followed by object oriented design question

  • round 4: One software engineer. LP questions + 1 LC Medium(no time to code it completely, but talked through the algorithm)

  • Application till invitation for phone interview: 1 week

  • phone interview till on-site Invitation: 2 days

  • 3 days after on-site interview, status changes to "No Longer Under Consideration"(This is the fun part. From what I have read, rejection/offer can come any time within a week to a few weeks. If you have been invited to the on-site interview, don't trust your job status at all. While "No Longer Under Consideration" does mean rejection for people in the phone interview and CV screening phase)

  • another 2 days after, received offer

Really typical interview process at Amazon. I would like to thank the LC community especially the ones who helped tag questions by company.

Technical questions: make sure that you have strong command of the most common algorithms. Review algorithm courses, do LC questions. Make sure you have understood all commonly asked questions at Amazon(LC premium pays back).

LP questions: prepare your stories, rehearse as much as possible, follow the STAR format to avoid missing details. The point of LP questions is to show that you are a fit in the company. Word your story in a way that shows you are the correct fit in their culture.

The most useful resource for LP questions would be Dan Croitor's "Amazon Interview Questions" playlist, which pretty much covers all questions that you need to prepare. But don't try to recite the stories, sometimes the conversation may go in a different direction as the interviewer is interested in certain bit of the story, or he may want to dig out more related to a specific leadership principle. Prepare for it!
One last note is: pay special attention to the bar raiser, a good coversation with the BR may significantly increase the chance of success.

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