I recently went through the interview process for the Software Development Engineer in Test II (SDET II) role at Amazon (Chennai). Sharing my experience to help others preparing for similar roles.
Online Assessment
The process started with the standard Amazon Online Assessment, which included:
- Work Simulation
- Work Style Assessment
- Coding Challenge
The coding questions were of medium difficulty, and the work simulation mainly focused on decision-making scenarios aligned with Amazon Leadership Principles (LPs).
Round 1 – System Design (1 Hour)
Interviewer: Senior SDET
I was asked to design a Google Keep–like note-taking application.
Discussion topics included:
- High-level system architecture
- Different design approaches
- Concurrency control
- Handling version conflicts
- Data storage strategy
- Scalability considerations
The interviewer also asked a few Leadership Principle questions during the discussion.
Verdict: Strong Hire
Round 2 – Hiring Manager Round (1 Hour)
This round mainly focused on:
- Past project experience
- Deep dives into technical decisions
- Amazon Leadership Principles
Several behavioral questions were asked around:
- Ownership
- Handling failures
- Working in ambiguous situations
Verdict: Strong Hire
Round 3 – DSA Round (1 Hour)
- First 30 minutes: Leadership Principles discussion
- Next 30 minutes: 2 LeetCode Medium problems
Questions Asked
-
Gas Station
https://leetcode.com/problems/gas-station/ -
Zigzag Conversion
https://leetcode.com/problems/zigzag-conversion/
The interviewer expected:
- Brute-force → optimized solution
- Time and space complexity analysis
- Clear explanation of approach
- Clean and readable code
Verdict: Hire
Round 4 – Bar Raiser Round (45 Minutes)
Interviewer: Principal SDET (Bar Raiser)
Focus areas:
- Leadership Principles
- Deep dive into past projects
- Automation testing strategies
- Designing scalable test systems
Although the interview was scheduled for 1 hour, we wrapped up in about 45 minutes.
Verdict: Strong Hire
Overall Experience
The process was heavily focused on Amazon Leadership Principles, which is typical for Amazon interviews.
Apart from strong coding and system design skills, it is extremely important to clearly articulate your experiences aligned with Leadership Principles.
Overall, it was a great interview experience with engaging technical discussions.
Preparation Tips for Amazon SDET Roles
If you are preparing for Amazon SDET roles, I recommend focusing on:
- Leadership Principles stories (STAR format)
- System design basics
- LeetCode Medium problems
- Automation architecture and testing strategies
Hope this helps others preparing for similar roles!
👉 Detailed Compensation Post: Amazon SDET II Compensation details – Chennai
