Amazon Interview experience for SDE II role | Very bad experience about the process

My Amazon SDE II interview journey began with receiving the assessment link on December 2nd. I completed it within three days, successfully solving both coding questions, and felt optimistic about moving forward.

However, an extensive silence followed. After nearly a month and a half, on January 17th, an Amazon recruiter finally reached out, expressing interest and wanting to schedule a chat. I eagerly confirmed my interest.

Yet, another week passed without any further updates. My follow-up email went unanswered. On January 27th, the recruiter replied, stating they'd reach out shortly. The next day, January 28th, I received an email congratulating me on clearing the SDE-II assessment and bizarrely attempting to schedule my interview for January 23rd and 24th – dates that had already passed! I immediately replied to correct this obvious error, but once again, a week went by with no response. My frustration grew, and after another week of silence, I followed up again on February 17th.

The communication chaos continued. On February 18th, the same recruiter messaged me on WhatsApp. As I was about to reply, she called me directly, asking if I could conduct the interview on the very same day. She also inquired about my experience, current company, salary expectations, and willingness to relocate to Hyderabad. Since I had been actively preparing for two months, I agreed to proceed with the interview immediately.

Five hours later, the interview began. The interviewer, from Poland, was introduced, and after my self-introduction, he started with Amazon Leadership Principles questions, which lasted about 25 minutes. We then transitioned to the coding segment.

The coding problem was about currency conversion. I asked several clarifying questions, and he gave me the flexibility to choose my preferred input format. I successfully solved the problem using a Depth-First Search (DFS) approach. I explained my solution's time and space complexity, and based on his demeanor, he seemed pleased. He indicated that the recruiter would contact me within two days.

I felt confident that the interview had gone well, and I was happy. However, after three days, with no updates, I decided to call the recruiter. To my shock, she informed me that the feedback was not positive. I was confused, asking if there weren't supposed to be more rounds, as initially indicated. She then clarified it was just a phone screening round and my feedback wasn't strong enough to advance. I now suspect the interviewer had no genuine intention of hiring from the start.

The entire process left me extremely disappointed. Everything I've heard about Amazon's disorganized and potentially "toxic" culture now resonates strongly with my experience. My frustration has truly peaked.