I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in May 2017
Interview
I was contacted by a recruiter through a Job search website for a full time position.
The response after each interview was super quick (relative to interviews in other companies)
Once they reject you, seems like the recruiter don't respond to your mail anymore. Pretty rude and unexpected.
1st phone call was with the recruiter. A 20 minutes conversation. Later he scheduled a day for phone interview.
1st round was a 45 minute technical phone interview. It went well. The interviewer was supportive and knowledgeable. I enjoyed the interview.
In couple of days I was told that they want to go ahead with onsite interview. I was thrilled and set a date for 3 weeks later.
I hated the onsite interview process. I liked that they paid for my travel(from California) and the stay at downtown. The onsite interview was of 4 hours - 5 rounds and NO BREAK for me in between. Why no break? Because the interview started 15 - 20 minutes late and that's why every next interview got overlapped and the interviewee had to suffer. It was utterly exhausting for me and frustrating after 2.5 rounds. I was interviewing after 9 long years and that's why I was uncomfortable, I guess, to ask for breaks in between. But if you are reading this and face similar situation please ask for breaks after every interview.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Phone rounds:
1. Odd/Even number of occurrence of integers in an array
2. Given an organization structure as a file, print out the employee names and its corresponding reportees in a structured format.
Onsite:
Round 1: Mostly behavioral
- Any technical challenge I have faced in past? How did I resolve it?
Any big impact to any of your recent projects?
How would you convince your manager(reasons/factors) to changing an implementation(a big modification) in a product which is in production currently?
Round 2: Technical
- Implement merge sort.
- Graph problem
Round 3: Technical
- A method to count number of occurrence of words in a file. The objective was to write a clean code rather than an optimized code.
Round 4: Behavioral and Architecture
- Past project experience
- Design a messaging app
Round 5: Design/Coding
- Ideas about implementing a search suggester
- How will you implement it?
Tough interview.
The Process: Automated Online Assessment (OA) with 2 coding questions and a system simulation, followed by a 4-round virtual Loop. Every single round started with 20 minutes of intense, behavioral behavioral questions diving into Amazon's Leadership Principles, followed by 25 minutes of technical coding or system design.
Amazon interviews are a test of mental endurance because you have to switch from deep behavioral storytelling straight into complex coding which can be so difficult. I used Apex Interviewer to practice the cognitive context switch. Running through their live-coding workspace helped me ensure my technical communication and architectural structures remained sharp and automatic, even after spending the first half of the interview defending my past project metrics. I fed the practice AI questions I extracted from glassdoor and gothamloop.
In the end, the offer was way lower than I hoped.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Design the backend inventory tracking and placement service for a global fulfillment network, ensuring strict transactional consistency across multiple regional warehouses during peak shopping events.
Initial screening call with recruiter followed by a 1 hr hacker rank question on DSA. The final round was a panel consisting of 4 interviews ranging from technical design, more DSA and behaviour questions.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe a time when you disagreed with your team and how you resolved it
Online Application & Assessment: Candidates apply via amazon.jobs and may be asked to complete online assessments (work simulations or technical tests).
Recruiter Phone Screen: A 30-60 minute interview to discuss your background, interest in the role, and initial behavioral questions.
Technical Phone Screen (For Tech Roles): A 60-minute interview focused on data structures, algorithms, and coding in a shared editor.
Interview Loop (Virtual/Onsite): The final stage, usually 3-5, 45-60 minute interviews held on the same day or over a few days.
Behavioral Questions: These focus on past behavior (STAR method: Situation, Task, Action, Result) mapped to Leadership Principles.
Technical/Functional Questions: Problem-solving, system design, or domain-specific questions.
Bar Raiser Interview: One interviewer is a "Bar Raiser," a neutral employee from another team tasked with ensuring hiring standards remain high.
Hiring Committee/Debrief: Interviewers meet to discuss candidate feedback and make a hiring decision.
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