Process:

I was reached out by an Amazon recruiter on LinkedIn for the SDE2 role.

OA: 2 DSA problems + System Design MCQs + Behavioral questions

Phone Screen: 1 round (DSA + discussion)

Onsite Rounds:

Round 1 (LLD, Bar Raiser): Design a restaurant reservation system (APIs + entities).

Round 2 (DSA): I misunderstood it as a design problem and lost time. The actual question was “Design Twitter” (LeetCode-style system design).

Round 3 (DSA): Solved both fully + one follow-up.

Q1: Given x, make x zero by picking elements from start/end of array → minimize elements (LeetCode problem).

Q2: Detect cycle in a graph.

Round 4 (Hiring Manager + HLD): Design a rider–driver matching system (similar to Uber).

Leadership Principles (LPs):
Every round had 2 LP questions. Expect very deep probing on every story you share. They note down everything and ask multiple cross-questions.

My Observations:

The Bar Raiser round was the toughest. The interviewer was very strict, gave no expressions, and just kept cross-questioning.

Amazon interviews test coding + design + LPs thoroughly. One small slip can affect the final outcome.

The bar has become very high these days across top companies, not just Amazon.

Advice:
Be well-prepared for DSA, LLD, HLD, and especially LPs. Even one mistake or unclear answer can hurt your chances.