Amazon | SDE1 | Seattle | February 2020 [Offer]
Anonymous User
883
Interview

Status: 1 YOE full-time, BS in CS from mid-tier school
Position: Associate Software Engineer
Location: Seattle, WA
Date: February 2020

I just wanted to make a post to give some insight to anyone that might feel like their schooling or experience wasn't enough. I didn't go to a particularly great school, certainly not known for Comp Sci. My work experience was okay but it was relevant to the team I was interviewing for at Amazon.

A recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn to start the interview process. I had already been casually studying LC at this point but I decided to buy LC premium and work a bit harder at it. I studied most of the Amazon specific questions and felt pretty comfortable with most data structures and algorithms. I had finished around 100 LC questions by the time I did my onsite interview.

NDA so I'm going to be vague.

Coding Test

  • Two data structure/algorithm focused questions. One easy one medium.

Phone Interview

  • Data structure/algorithm question followed up by a harder OOD question. I got the data structure/algorithm portion immediately but I did not think I did particularly well on the OOD portion of this.

Onsite

  • Four total rounds
  • Two of the interviews had relatively easy data structure/algorithm focused questions. All four had OOD questions. I'd say a little less than half of the time was focused on the LPs.

Some takeaways:

  • LC premium is totally worth it.
  • If you dont have fantastic soft skills or aren't great coming up with stuff on the spot, study the LP as much as you can.
  • OOD was far more important than data structures and algorithms for my interviews. I still needed to know advanced data structures and time complexities but every single interview after the online test had OOD in it.
  • BFS method of studying worked great for me.

I focused more on the data structures and algorithms than anything else. Looking back I would have spent more time on OOD. If you are less comfortable speaking on the spot then I would recommend spending far more time on the leadership principles.

I received a great offer but I was able to negotiate up to the salary cap for SDE1s in Seattle (compared to websites like blind, levels.fyi, etc.) so I would recommend at least asking your recruiter if there is wiggle room if you receive an offer.

Good luck interviewing everyone!

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