What to expect in an Amazon technical interview?

Amazon's technical interview process is designed to assess not only your technical skills and knowledge but also your problem-solving abilities and alignment with Amazon's Leadership Principles. The process can vary depending on the role you're applying for, but for software engineering positions, it typically follows a structured path:

Initial Screening

• Recruiter Phone Screen: An initial conversation with a recruiter about your experience, skills, and motivations for joining Amazon.
• Online Assessment (OA): For many software development roles, especially at the entry-level, you might be asked to complete an online assessment. This usually consists of two or three parts, including coding challenges (focusing on data structures and algorithms), work style assessment, and possibly a logical reasoning test.

Phone or Video Interviews

• Technical Interviews: These are conducted via phone or video call and typically focus on coding and problem-solving skills. You'll be asked to solve one or more coding problems in real-time, often in a shared coding environment. Expect questions involving data structures (like arrays, linked lists, trees, and graphs) and algorithms (such as sorting, searching, recursion, and dynamic programming).

Onsite Interviews

If you pass the initial screenings, you'll be invited to the onsite interview loop, which may still be virtual due to the ongoing global situation. This usually involves 4-6 interviews covering:

• Coding: More in-depth coding questions, similar to the phone interview but possibly more complex. You'll need to write code that is not only correct but also optimized and clean.
• System Design: You might be asked to design a system or architecture, discussing your design choices, scalability, and trade-offs. This assesses your ability to architect scalable and maintainable systems.
• Behavioral Interviews: These are crucial at Amazon. You'll be asked questions that assess how you align with the Amazon Leadership Principles. Be prepared with specific, detailed examples from your past experiences that demonstrate these principles in action.
• Bar Raiser: One of your interviews will be with a Bar Raiser, an interviewer trained to ensure that hiring standards are consistently applied across Amazon. The Bar Raiser has significant influence and can vet candidates on all aspects, especially the Leadership Principles.

What Amazon Looks For

• Problem-Solving Ability: Your approach to solving problems, your ability to come up with optimal solutions, and your reasoning behind your solutions.
• Coding Proficiency: Your knowledge of programming languages and your ability to write syntactically correct and efficient code.
• System Design Skills: For more senior roles, your understanding of how to design scalable and reliable systems.
• Alignment with Leadership Principles: Amazon places a strong emphasis on its Leadership Principles. Candidates who demonstrate these principles through their past experiences and problem-solving approaches are more likely to be successful.

Preparation Tips

• Practice Coding: Use platforms like LeetCode and DesignGurus.io to practice coding problems. Focus on understanding the underlying data structures and algorithms.
• Study System Design: Prepare for system design questions by studying common architectures and practicing designing systems out loud.
• Leadership Principles: Prepare examples from your past experiences that demonstrate each of Amazon's Leadership Principles. Use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) format to structure your responses.
• Mock Interviews: Practice with mock interviews, ideally with someone who has experience interviewing for tech roles or specifically for Amazon.

Conclusion

The Amazon technical interview process is thorough and designed to assess candidates on multiple levels. Preparation should focus on both technical skills and behavioral aspects, with particular attention to the Amazon Leadership Principles. Being well-prepared with examples and practicing coding and system design problems will be key to success.