Amazon [Off campus] | SDE 1 | Hyderabad | May 2021 [Rejected]

My application process started when I received a mail from the Amazon recruitment team for an SDE1 opening. After applying, I was immediately processed for further rounds and signed an NDA.

Round 1: Online Coding / Behavioral

This round was conducted on Aspiring Minds and lasted 2.5 hours. I faced two coding questions: one was 'Fill the truck', and the other was a linked list-based problem. Additionally, there were about 50 behavioral questions, where I had to choose between two options indicating my inclination and whether I agreed or strongly agreed. There was also a debugging round with 7 coding questions, each requiring a bug fix. I was able to solve both programming questions with complete explanations and chose options aligned with Amazon's leadership principles for the behavioral part.

Recruiter Call

I received feedback within 2 days after the coding test. I discussed my location preference and was aligned a date for interviews 15 days later. I was informed there would be 3 non-elimination interviews, all conducted virtually via Chime with a live coding link provided.

Round 2: Technical Round

This 1-hour round jumped straight into coding. The interviewer initially said there would be two questions: an LC easy string question and the 'Knight in chessboard' question. I solved both with expected complexities and wrote clean code. Since about 20 minutes were left, the interviewer proceeded to a third question, which was a hashmap-based easy-level problem. I solved this one too, and the interviewer seemed thoroughly impressed.

Round 3: Technical Round

This 1-hour round began with questions about my current work experience and previous projects, along with behavioral questions based on Amazon Leadership Principles. For the technical part, I was asked an LC Hard BFS-based Graph question combined with a mathematical formula, which had tricky parts related to pattern identification and BFS optimization. The second question was array-based. I successfully explained my resume, followed the STAR principle for behavioral questions, and provided a clean code solution and follow-up approaches for the technical question, which the interviewer seemed happy with.

Round 4: Technical Round

This final 1-hour round started with my introduction, then moved directly to DSA questions. One was an LC Hard stack-based question optimized using a two-pointer method, where interviewers were rigid and didn't allow modifications after I presented my solution. The second question was 'Minimum platforms'. I explained my resume, but the interviewers seemed dissatisfied. Their tone was incredibly rude, and they undermined my solutions despite better complexity. When I suggested an approach with better space complexity, they discouraged me, claiming it would take too much time and lead to confusion. This was honestly one of the worst interview experiences I've ever had.

Impression & Verdict

The first two rounds had friendly and supportive interviewers who even extended the time to answer my questions. However, the third-round interviewers were extremely rude and interruptive. My overall impression of Amazon after this experience was negative, and naturally, I wasn't surprised or particularly sad when the rejection mail arrived.

General Thoughts

• The technical questions were generally towards the hard side, requiring strong preparation.
• Significant focus was placed on behavioral questions based on Amazon Leadership Principles.
• Clean code, with relevant variable names, no syntax errors, and modularity, was expected.
• Questions were often open-ended, so asking clarifying questions was crucial.
• Attention to edge cases was very important.