Amazon | SD2 | Seattle, WA | 1st September [Offer]
Anonymous User
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Interview

Amazon | SD2 | Seattle, WA | 1st September [Offer]
Status: 5 years’ experience
Position: SDE2 at Amazon
Location: Seattle, WA
Date: 1st September 2020
My 2 cents to the leetcode community. I couldn't have cleared the interview without your help.
OA
2 questions:

Got a call from the recruiter within a week for the next step. The recruiter scheduled me for another round to discuss my approach with the Amazon engineer for the questions in OA. I never heard about this round and I am not sure why it was done. The amazon engineers( 2 of them) discussed my approach and possible other solutions.

Onsite
Total interviews: 4
Duration: 4hrs (50 min interview +10 min break and questions)

  1. Coding + bar raiser
  • Interview format: 30 min LP +20 min code
  • Variation of courses II: https://leetcode.com/problems/course-schedule-ii/
  • The question was the Operating system needs to compile some files and the compiler needs to file what file needs to be compiled before or find the order in which files need to be compiled.
  • I saw the question and I felt its topological sort.
  • Twist:
  • use a library to get the files and their dependencies.
  • Number of files given in input was less than the total number of files. I was required the missing files into the total files list by traversing the dependencies.
  1. System design (50 min: 30 min LP+ 20 min design)
    *LP for 30 min
  • Design chat application for billions of users.
  • The interviewer knew what he wanted and was constantly guiding me to the areas he wanted me to cover.
  • studied system design from YouTube and GitHub.
  • Discussion:
  • Draw a high-level diagram.
  • Scale the system.
  • Debug latency issues.
  • What if other users are not online when someone sent them a message?
  • Consistency vs eventual consistency
  • API design for specific endpoints.
  • Class design to support API transactions.
  • I had a really good discussion with the interviewer. From my interview experience, it is much easier when the interviewer is interactive.
  1. Coding (50 min: 30 min LP + 20 min code)
  • LP for 30 min
  • given a list of words, return suggestion to the user based on character input. (type ahead)
  • I gave one brute force solution using a list and then I discussed a solution with Trie. The interview was looking for trie and asked me to implement the solution.
    *I have a habit of typing and talking so I was explaining to him as I was typing. I had 20 min to understand and discuss and code.
  1. Coding (50 min: 30 min LP+ 20 min code)
  • I was expecting a coding question but I got a coding + design question. (OOD)
  • Design Amazon locker and implement some classes. The interviewer didn’t give any other information until I asked.
  • Requirement:
  • Three sizes(S, M, and L). (I asked this question)
  • consider size to be just a number like 2, 5, or 10. (I asked this question)
  • Change in requirement
  • Interview changed the requirement halfway through the process and asked me to accommodate the change in my design. Requirement like: now there are more than three sizes of lockers etc.

My Story:
I have been working in a very relaxed software company for the past five years. I enjoyed and learned a lot and solved problems to make customer life easier. I am a regular software engineer and I don’t have a very strong college/coding background. I started leetcode during quarantine in April and continued with a slow but consistent pace till the time I cracked Amazon. Before amazon, I took an interview with Chewy, Citrix, eBay. I made it to the final rounds for all the companies but wasn’t able to get an offer.

My experience with the preparation and interview is:
Prepare consistently and don’t give up. Today or tomorrow you will crack an interview and you will be proud of yourself and all your work.

Practice questions under different tags and prepare company focus questions 2-3 weeks before the interview. Overall, make a plan and try to follow it.

I read many posts from people who were solving 10-20 questions in a day and I tried the same but it didn’t work for me. I usually solved 5-8 on my best day (easy, medium, and hard). My experience is reading other people’s interview experiences does helps but tailor your plan for your needs.

I thought I can never clear an interview in the FAANG companies. I was feeling a lot of pressure the night before the interview. There were times during the interview where I felt I can't solve the question and I had to gather myself and move forward.
Don't give up and continue your practice. If I can do it, you can do it too.

Sources I used:

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