Amazon SDE-1 Interview Experience - Selected

Hi everyone! I recently received an offer from Amazon for the SDE-1 role, and I wanted to share my interview experience to help others preparing for similar opportunities.

1. Online Assessment (OA)

I received an online assessment consisting of coding and an AI-assisted round. I was able to solve one coding question completely, while in the AI-assisted round, I passed 3 out of 6 test cases.

After about a week, I received a call from the recruiter asking if I was available for an in-person interview. I confirmed my availability, and the interview process moved forward.

2. Technical Round 1

The first technical round took place at the Bangalore office.

• DSA: A hard-level linked list problem.
• Leadership Principles (LP): A behavioral question about a time I had to make a sacrifice.

The interviewer focused on both problem-solving and behavioral aspects.

3. Technical Round 2

This round was also held on the same day.

• DSA: A problem involving multiset and binary search.
• Behavioral: Questions based on Amazon's Leadership Principles.

4. Hiring Manager (HM) Round

I received an email for the HM round two days later, but the interview was subsequently rescheduled. It eventually took place about a week later.

This round focused on low-level design (LLD) and Leadership Principles. The design discussion wasn't extremely deep, but understanding the fundamentals and important design patterns was useful.

5. Bar Raiser Round

After the HM round, my Bar Raiser interview was scheduled.

This round was entirely behavioral and focused heavily on Amazon's Leadership Principles. The interviewer asked multiple questions about my past experiences and went deep into follow-up questions to understand my decisions, reasoning, actions, and the outcomes.

Having multiple well-prepared stories was particularly helpful for handling the follow-ups.

6. Offer

After the Bar Raiser round, I received the offer approximately a week later!

Preparation Tips

Here are a few things that helped me during the process:

• Prepare 6–7 strong behavioral stories. Try to cover multiple Leadership Principles across your experiences so you can adapt your stories to different questions.
• Use the STAR format. Structure your answers around Situation, Task, Action, and Result. Be especially clear about your individual contribution and the reasoning behind your decisions.
• Prepare for follow-up questions. Particularly in the Bar Raiser round, expect the interviewer to dig deep into your stories. Be ready to explain why you made specific decisions, what alternatives you considered, what you learned, and what you would do differently.
• Practice DSA consistently. The Striver SDE Sheet is a useful resource for covering important problem-solving patterns.
• Revise LLD fundamentals. Focus on OOP concepts and commonly used design patterns. In my experience, the LLD discussion was more focused on fundamentals than on an extremely elaborate design.
• Communicate clearly. Explain your thought process, ask clarifying questions, and engage with the interviewer rather than silently solving the problem.

Finally, stay consistent with your preparation, trust your efforts, and have faith in God.

All the best to everyone preparing for Amazon interviews! I hope this helps. 🙌