Amazon SDE-II Interview — How Would You Evaluate This Coding Round?

Amazon SDE-II Technical Interview — Looking for Honest Feedback on My Coding Round

I recently had an SDE-II technical interview and would appreciate honest opinions from people who have interviewed at Amazon or similar companies.

I was given two coding problems.

For the first problem, I came up with a working approach, but the interviewer asked whether I could optimize the time complexity further based on a specific constraint. I initially didn't identify the optimization and the interviewer suggested moving on to the next problem so we could return to it later.

For the second problem, I recognized the problem and identified the expected algorithmic approach. While implementing it, I made a small code placement/indentation mistake. The interviewer pointed out that something was wrong and gave me a clue, after which I immediately understood the issue and corrected it.

We then ran out of time and the interviewer asked if I had any questions. I didn't have a question at that point, so the interview ended.

I'm trying to understand how this type of performance would generally be evaluated.

For people who have interviewed for Amazon SDE-II or similar roles:

• How significant is it to miss an optimization when the interviewer provides a constraint-based hint?
• How heavily is a small implementation mistake usually considered if the candidate recognizes and fixes it after a clue?
• Can a candidate still pass if they demonstrate the correct algorithmic approach but need a hint during implementation?
• Does moving on from one problem and then running out of time generally indicate anything about the evaluation?

I'm not looking for false reassurance — I'd genuinely appreciate honest perspectives from people who have been through similar interviews.

Thank you!