Amazon Sde-1 Interview Experience (Verdict : selected)
Summary
I went through four rounds of Amazon SDE‑1 interviews—including an online assessment, two on‑site DSA rounds, a hiring‑manager interview, and a bar‑raiser—and was ultimately selected.
Full Experience
Online Assessment (OA)
Coding: 1 Easy and 1 Medium DSA question
Work Style Assessment: Standard Amazon Leadership Principles (LP) questions (Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree)
Round 1: DSA (onsite)
- Technical: Detonate the Maximum Bombs (follow‑up: variation involving a directed graph)
- Behavioral (STAR‑based): Deadline‑related – Tell me about a time you handled tasks with a strict deadline
Round 2: DSA + Project Discussion (onsite)
- Technical: Aggressive Cows (follow‑up on time and space complexities)
- Behavioral (STAR‑based): Same question again – Tell me about a time you handled tasks with a strict deadline (different interviewer, same question)
Round 3: Hiring Manager (Gen - AI) (virtual)
- Technical: Next Greater Element (follow‑up on complexity)
- Gen AI Discussion: How do you make the best use of LLMs? Do you verify/validate the results? If yes, how? Tips for using LLMs efficiently (1–2 additional related questions)
Round 4: Bar Raiser (Leadership Principles Focus) (virtual)
- Behavioral (STAR‑based):
- A scenario where you had to deep dive (with extensive follow‑ups)
- A scenario where you missed a commitment or deadline (with deep probing)
- A scenario where you had to convince someone of your approach
This interviewer really grilled me on every answer, but I made sure to clearly explain the situation, my reasoning, and the outcomes.
Overall Experience:
I really enjoyed interviewing at Amazon. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments!
Update – selected
Interview Questions (3)
Detonate the Maximum Bombs
Problem about detonating the maximum number of bombs, with a follow‑up variation involving a directed graph.
Aggressive Cows
Classic problem of placing cows in stalls to maximize the minimum distance between any two cows, with follow‑up questions on time and space complexities.
Next Greater Element
Given an array, find the next greater element for each element, with follow‑up discussion on complexity.