Amazon SDE-1 (Fixed Term Contract) Interview Experience (2.5 YOE)
I recently interviewed for the Software Development Engineer-1 (Fixed Term Contract) role at Amazon India.
Online Assessment (OA)
The Online Assessment consisted of two parts:
DSA Coding Assessment : One medium-level data structures and algorithms problem that required an optimized solution, proper handling of edge cases.
AI-Based Backend Assessment: This was an AI-driven technical assessment focused on Spring Boot. I was given a backend application with failing test scenarios and was required to identify the issues, fix the implementation, and make all the tests pass. The assessment evaluated debugging skills, backend development knowledge, and problem-solving.
A few days after completing the OA, I received an invitation for the technical interview rounds.
Round 1 – Technical (60 Minutes) + LP
The interviewer started with a brief introduction and then moved directly to coding.
The first problem was a variation of the classic Coin Change problem, where the scenario was modified (framed around boxes/items instead of coins). The interviewer was more interested in my approach, DP state definition, and handling edge cases than just arriving at the final code.
After completing the solution, we discussed its time and space complexity along with possible optimizations.
The second coding discussion was based on the Course Schedule problem (graph/topological sorting). I explained both the intuition and implementation, discussing cycle detection and the reasoning behind the chosen approach.
The interviewer also asked follow-up questions on alternative solutions, edge cases, and complexity analysis before moving on to a brief discussion of my projects.
Difficulty: Medium
Topics Covered:
- Dynamic Programming
- Graphs
- Topological Sorting
- Complexity Analysis
- Edge Cases
Round 2 – Technical (60 Minutes) + LP
The interviewer started with a brief introduction and then moved on to the coding questions.
The first question was Smallest Common Ancestor. I explained my approach, discussed the intuition behind the solution, handled edge cases, and analyzed the time and space complexity before implementing it.
The second question was Maximum Sum of Heights (making one element the peak while maximizing the total sum of the mountain array). The interviewer asked follow-up questions about the approach, complexity, and possible alternatives.
Overall, the round focused on problem-solving, optimization, communication, and complexity analysis.
Difficulty: Medium to Hard
Topics Covered:
- Trees
- Smallest Common Ancestor
- Monotonic Stack
- Array Optimization
- Complexity Analysis
Round 3 – HM Round
I received an invitation for the third interview round. However, there was a scheduling mismatch between the email and the meeting invite. The email mentioned that the interview was scheduled for 8 July, but when I joined the meeting link, I realized the interview had actually been scheduled for 7 July. As a result, I was unable to attend the interview.
If you receive an interview invitation, I recommend checking both the email and the calendar/meeting invite carefully to ensure the dates and times are consistent.
Edit :
The Hiring Manager round was an interesting experience because it was rescheduled multiple times (around five times) due to scheduling changes before it finally took place.
The interviewer started with a brief introduction and asked me to introduce myself. We then spent some time discussing my previous projects, where I explained the architecture, my responsibilities, the technologies I had used, and some of the challenges I faced.
The interviewer then asked whether I had worked with AWS. Although I mentioned that I hadn't worked with AWS, I was asked a few conceptual questions, including:
What is Amazon SQS?
What is a DLQ?
Why do we need a DLQ?
Was able to answer these.
After that, I was given two short coding questions.
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The first question was to implement a Queue using two Stacks. The interviewer expected a working implementation within about 5 minutes, followed by a brief discussion of the time complexity.
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The second question was to find all pairs in an array whose sum equals a given target. Again, this was intended to be solved quickly while explaining the approach and complexity.
The remainder of the interview focused on an in-depth discussion of my projects.
The interviewer asked several follow-up questions around backend architecture and real-world system design, including:
- What happens when a user opens a flight booking website?
- Why do many flight booking websites initially show a default city like Delhi?
- Why isn't this information hardcoded in the UI?
- What happens internally after a user clicks the Search button?
The discussion was largely conversational and focused on understanding my backend fundamentals, system thinking, and project ownership rather than asking additional algorithmic questions.
Difficulty: Medium
Topics Covered
Project Deep Dive
Amazon SQS
DLQ
Queue using Two Stacks
Array Pair Sum
Flight Booking System Flow