My Amazon Interview Experience and Tips

Recently, I went through the interview process for Amazon, and while each experience can differ, I wanted to share some insights based on my journey. Please note that this post reflects my personal experience and understanding, not official Amazon guidelines.

Timeline

To give you an idea of how the process flowed in my case:

• August 7: Submitted application for SDE 1 role
• August 13: Received recruiter email and online assessment
• August 28: Recruiter requested availability
• September 3: Confirmed interview dates
• September 6: Virtual interviews (3 rounds)
• September 12: Received offer

The entire process took approximately 5 weeks from application to offer, though timelines can vary significantly based on various factors

Interview Structure Overview

From what I’ve experienced and understood, Amazon typically follows several interview patterns:

1. Coding only round
2. Combined behavioral and coding round
3. Behavioral only round

In my case, I had three hours of interviews scheduled, structured as follows:

1. First Round

• Two Leadership Principles (LP) based behavioral questions
• One coding question (divided into three parts) based on data structure
• I was able to successfully solve the coding problem with about 20 minutes to spare

2. Second Round

• Two LP-based behavioral questions
• One straightforward coding question based on string manipulation
• The interviewer dove deep into my behavioral examples, asking for more specific details
• Successfully completed the coding portion

3. Third Round

• Two LP-based behavioral questions
• One Low-Level Design (LLD) question
• Got feedback to correct one part of my LLD where I was exposing some information to the user that should have been internal
• Was able to quickly understand and implement the correction

It’s worth noting that I’ve heard of various other combinations — some candidates had purely behavioral interviews, others didn’t have any LLD questions, and some faced multiple coding questions in a single round. The structure seems to vary case by case.

Coding Interview Tips

Based on my experience, here’s what worked for me:

1. The coding rounds focus heavily on problem-solving and logic comprehension. The interviewers were helpful and provided guidance when needed.
2. Spend the first few minutes understanding the problem. Take time to thoroughly understand the question. Ask clarifying questions about:

• Input constraints
• Edge cases
• Invalid inputs

Walk through examples, including random test cases.

3. Discuss your logic before diving into coding. Get interviewer’s agreement on your approach. Explain your thought process clearly.

4. Create well-modularized functions. Consider testability, especially for LLD questions. Be prepared to explain how you would test your solution

Question Difficulty: From my experience and others I’ve spoken to, most questions were Leetcode medium-level, typically Amazon-tagged ones. Some areas to focus on are strings, arrays, linked lists, trees, graphs, and heaps.

Behavioral Interview Insights

1. I found the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) format extremely helpful in structuring my responses. Most of my behavioral interviews lasted about 2–3 minutes per question.
2. Practice answers to common Leadership Principle (LP)-based questions, focusing on

• Handling missing or tight deadlines
• Managing conflicts with team members or managers
• Taking on challenging tasks
• Demonstrating leadership
• Learning new skills or technologies
• Overcoming difficult situations

3. They will often ask follow-up questions such as

• What did you learn from this experience?
• What was the impact on systems/processes?
• What would you differently now?
• What were the long-term outcomes?

Final Thoughts

Remember that interview experiences can vary significantly. The key is to:

• Stay calm and composed
• Practice both technical and behavioral aspects
• Focus on clear communication
• Demonstrate problem-solving ability
• Show alignment with leadership principles through your experiences

A crucial tip that helped me succeed: practice in an interview-like environment, even when solving LeetCode problems. Treat each practice session like a real interview — explain your thought process out loud, write down clarifying questions, and discuss your approach before coding. Consider getting mock interviews with peers, as they can provide valuable feedback and help you get comfortable with the interview setting.

Preparation Resources

While preparing, I found these resources helpful:

• https://leetracer.com/screener
• https://github.com/krishnadey30/LeetCode-Questions-CompanyWise
• https://github.com/viraptor/reverse-interview
• https://github.com/prashant075/Low-Level-Design/
• https://leetcode.com/discuss/interview-question/437082/Amazon-Behavioral-questions-or-Leadership-Principles-or-LP

Remember to practice consistently and focus on understanding concepts rather than memorizing solutions. Each interview is unique, and while preparation is key, being calm and thinking through problems logically is just as important. If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out! Good luck with your preparation!