I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (San Diego, CA) in Nov 2018
Interview
Areas to focus on - recruiter communication and the interview quality.
To explain, the Recruiter lined me up for an opportunity I did not want, and argued against my first choices and was nearly out of communication with confirming the interview date/time plus details about the upcoming code challenge. I was assured that "if the first opportunity does not work, we'll line you up with the remaining opportunities in the same region".
The confirmation date/time with the Engineer took one and a half weeks but it's perfectly reasonable during this Holiday season.
The code challenge itself was frustrating because although I provided the correct answer I was still nervous, and did my best to present a good impression of my skills and experience. During the code challenge I told the Engineer I was uncomfortable.
The stated focus in this challenge was "working the problem" than "finding the correct answer". I'm proud to have done both and am still baffled as to why the interviewer thought I was not a good fit. I showed the correct amount of determination even if I had to refactor many parts over to find the solution.
I feel like this interview process treated me as a commodity rather than a valuable asset to Amazon. Consider these points:
1. The Recruiter did not set up which opportunity I wanted - argued against my preferred choices, told me I was a perfect fit for something else. To Amazon: Please re-train Recruiters to consider applicants' goals over their interpretation of company objectives.
2. The Engineer conducting the code challenge was communicative but also "busy". It was near the Holiday season and perhaps his rushed mentality did not see both the talking points and final solution I provided. The Holiday season is busy for everyone but attention must be given if you conduct an interview.
In summary I'm just confused why an applicant that communicates a 100% correct verbal and written answer that works is not considered for the next step in the process. I have faith in Amazon and their vision but will not be pursuing an opportunity in the near future.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Find the highest value in a series of integers added from an array.
[-1, 1, 2, 3, 5, -7, 8]
-1 + 1 = 0
-1 + 1 + 2 = 2
-1 + 1 + 2 + 3 = 5
etc.
total 5 rounds - First OA assessment, quick telephone interview with recruiter, followed by 4 back to back technical and behavioral rounds. In technical round question were around topological graph sorting, cycle detection in linked list, and LRU cache. In behavioral round, the question were based on their 16 principles.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How do you manage the disagreement at your workplace.
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Amazon
Interview
The process started with a brief 30-minute phone screening with a recruiter, focusing on my background and resume.
After that, I was invite to a technical video interview with a senior engineer. This round lasted about 60 minutes, starting with a brief introduction, followed by a live coding challenge on a shared editor, and ended with a few questions about system design basics and my past projects.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Implement a function to find the first non-repeating character in a string and discuss its time and space complexity.
During the coding round, I was thrown a problem on edit distance that felt eerily familiar. Mid-way through, I realized it was the same question I had practiced on PracHub just a few days earlier. The interview included a system design question about the Amazon Locker service, which required me to think through various components and customer flows. The final round involved behavioral questions that focused on leadership principles. Overall, the process was challenging but fair, and I was thrilled to receive an offer that I happily accepted.
Interview questions [3]
Question 1
Compute the edit distance between two strings and walk through the DP table and optimizations.
Software Engineer applicants have rated the interview process at Amazon with 3.3 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 48% positive. To compare, the company-average is 57.5% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Software Engineer roles take an average of 24 days to get hired, when considering 3,658 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Amazon overall takes an average of 28 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Amazon as a Software Engineer according to 3,658 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 30%
One on one interview: 18%
Skills test: 17%
Presentation: 10%
Personality test: 7%
Group panel interview: 6%
IQ intelligence test: 5%
Background check: 4%
Other: 2%
Drug test: 2%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -