Status: Software Engineer at a service-based company, 1.4 YOE, BE in CSE from a Tier-3 college.
Offer Position: SDE at Amazon
Location: Hyderabad
Offer Date: May 26, 2022
Edit: I have not shared interview questions because I have signed an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement).
Generally, most tech giants ask you to sign an NDA before appearing for the interview. After signing this document, we are not supposed to share interview questions or any other inside information that we have discussed with the panel.
Note: This is going to be very detailed interview experience, in which i explained what was my thought process throught the interview process.
I was actively looking for job from past 2 months and was doing leetcode daily.
I have few numbers to share -
Applied : 65+ Companies.
Referral : 115+ LinkedIn Requests.
Interviews : 3
Selected : 1
LeetCode : 350+ (70% Medium & Hard)
Btw, Quantity doesn't matter, Quality does.
I used to give preference more to Medium Level questions while practicing.
Finally,
My friend referred me for this position on March 17, 2022.
(He joined 1 month back)
Total 5 rounds of OA + interviews [2 months]
1. Online Assessment [27th March 2022] [2 hours]:
Coding and Work Style Questions:
-
2 coding questions were there to be solved within 105 minutes along with the coding approach (elaborate on why you code the way you do).
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Both the questions were LC easy-medium level, I completed both.
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For the rest of the 15 minutes, there were some questions about my work style, preferences, etc.
2. Technical Round 1 [13th April 2022] [1 hour]:
Coding and LP (Leadership Principles) Questions:
He directly jumped to coding question without introduction.
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[LC HARD premium] Based on Heap/Priority Queue.
- I gave him 2 approaches, implemented them and he was satisfied, but he later told me to optimize further, which I was not able to do.
- Later, he told me I was going in the right direction but was not able to pick up one trick.
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He then asked me about heap and priority queue data structures, and asked how every operation works and what the time and space complexity for every operation is. I was able to answer them.
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He finished the interview by asking one last LP question.
There was a gap of few hours in between TR 1 and TR 2, I was bit upset because was not able to give optimal approach.
3. Technical Round 2 [13th April 2022] [1 hour]:
Initially, only 1 person was going to take the interview, but surprisingly, there were 2.
Coding and LP Questions:
-
[LC Medium] Based on Binary Tree.
- I gave her the first approach in which I was doing multiple traversals, but she told me to do all the tasks within one traversal only, to which I gave her the approach.
- I implemented the code, and after that, both the interviewers started asking questions related to the code and later asked questions on trees (this part felt to me like a rapid-fire round).
- It was completed within the first 30 minutes.
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[LC Medium] Based on the Linked List.
I gave 2 approaches and implemented the optimal one. -
In the last 10 minutes, they asked a few LP questions and later told me to ask questions if I had any.
I was not fully convinced that i will get BR round but after sharing my experience with friends, they said you will get.
4. Bar Raiser Round [13th May 2022] [1 hour]:
This round was supposed to happen on April 28th, 2022 but was postponed.
I was happy because I was underprepared for the round and now I got an extra 2 weeks.
Coding + LLD + LP Questions:
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She started by asking LP questions one by one and was able to give answers with the STAR technique. Along with every question, she was also asking follow-up questions.
The first 20 minutes were LP-based. -
[Easy Design Problem].
- She explained to me the scenario thoroughly and then asked me to implement it.
- She was expecting me to design the classes and write operations optimally.
- I gave the approach and told what data structures I was going to use and explained all the operations' time and space complexity.
- I implemented the code and she was satisfied.
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[LC Medium] Based on Binary Tree.
I gave the approach and after discussing time and space complexity, I implemented the code and she was satisfied. -
I completed both the questions within 30 mins.
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In the last 10 minutes, we discussed, work environment, roles and responsiblities, expectation from me, and few others related to work-life balance.
After the interview, I was happy because everything went well for me.
I was quite confident after discussing this with my friends.
After 4 days, HR called and directly asked, "Are you interested in the System Development Engineer role"?
At first, I was confused, like - What just happened!!
I told her I was not aware of the role and would like to know more about the position.
She later arranged a call the next day with Hiring Manager for a role briefing.
Meanwhile, I researched and found on the web that there is a minor difference between both the roles and the pay difference is also negligible.
I also found that it depends on the team also. A few System Dev. Eng. are doing the same task as Software Dev. Eng.
5. Hiring Manager [Role Briefing for System Dev. Eng.] [19th May 2022] [20 min]:
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I asked her what exactly the role was and how different it would be from Software Dev. Eng.
She said the role is very similar to Software Development Engineer, but along with development, I will also be involved in DevOps activities. -
I also asked what the career path for this role would be, to which she said, I can either continue with the System Dev. Eng. role or change to a Software Development Engineer role based on my performance.
After discussion, I went to LinkedIn and connected to a few system developers engineers and asked the same questions, from which I concluded that-
System Dev. Eng. = Software Dev. Eng. [70-90%] + DevOps [10-30%]. (Also, it varies from team to team).
I made my decision and called HR and told them that I was interested in the role.
At this point, I was thinking I had already been selected for the role. They just wanted to check whether I was interested or not. But this was not true.
After 4 days, the new HR called and told me I would have another interview, and I was like "I'm Dead" (I self-rejected) because I was not expecting another interview.
I already lost touch with my preparation because I stopped preparing after my BR interview.
To make matters worse, I found out after a day that the next round would be on Scripting and Troubleshooting, and at this point, I thought I was done; I'm not going to Amazon.
because I don't know much about scripting and troubleshooting.
I was very upset. I had self-doubts. I felt lost. Those 2 days I will never forget.
I discussed everything with my friends and they told me to now only focus on the interview.
I sat down with them over the phone and they explained to me everything they know about scripting and troubleshooting.
(While on this call I was thinking, we are just doing formalities, but my friends keep on saying, think positive.)
6. Technical Round 3 [26th May 2022][D-Day] [1 hour]:
Before going to the interview, I was thinking, I'm just going to get rejected as they told it was a scripting and troubleshooting round, but a big surprise was waiting for me.
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Firstly, we both introduced ourselves.
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Then he directly gave the coding question [I had my first smile],
[LC Medium String Based Question]
I gave him 2 approaches, he was impressed with the second one and asked to implement second one. I did this in 15 mins in between i was also explaining him about STL (C++ Library). -
Then he gave the second coding question [I had my second smile],
[LC Easy-Medium Array-Based Question]
I gave approach and implemented within 10 mins. -
Then again, he gave a coding question [And I had my last smile],
[Easy Question]
It was based on reading a file, extracting data, and performing operations optimally using STL, implemented within 15 mins.
At this point, 45 minutes of the interview were completed and my happiness was increasing with every minute passing.
I wasn't expecting a single coding question and I had 3, which I solved. It was a big surprise.
In the last 15 minutes, he asked 1 scripting and 1 troubleshooting question. For troubleshooting question, we went deep on the networking side.
After the interview, I finally felt I had made it. I was relaxed and was expecting a result within 3–4 days. BUT BUT BUT,
Within an hour, I received an e-mail from HR that I had been selected for the role.
I was speechless because this happened all of a sudden.
A few hours back, I was rejecting myself, and now I have an offer from Amazon. I finally told my parents and friends.
My parents didn't know that I had been giving interviews at Amazon for the past 1.5 months, and all of a sudden I told them about my selection. They didn't believe me at first. I showed them the mail and finally, they realized and were very proud.
This was the day I will never forget, in which I went through every emotion.
Verdict: Selected for System Dev. Eng. role
Thoughts:
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Consistency is the key :
Before appearing on Amazon, I was consistent on Letcode with a 90+ day streak. -
Never give up, whether in an interview or throughout your job hunting :
I got an Amazon interview after applying to several companies and writing multiple referral applications. -
For Amazon, LP is very important. You can't take it lightly, give enough time for LP preparation :
Be prepared to share a few stories and ready to take follow-ups for your stories. -
Never assume anything, whether in an interview or through the process; make it clear to the respective person :
(You guys must know by now why I added this point). -
Don't stop preparation till you have confirmation of selection.
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Discuss things with friends (who have relevant experience).
I had my friends at [Microsoft, Amazon, and VMware].
They may give you additional information which will help you, and you will also feel confident.
Compensation Details:
https://leetcode.com/discuss/compensation/2191420/Amazon-or-System-Development-Engineer-1-or-Hyderabad-or-May-2022
Thanks for reading and best of luck for your future :))
If you have any questions, please shoot ->>
