Amazon SDE 1 | Interview Round 1 | India

Applied, got and gave the OA on 26th June, 2025.

Recruiter reached out through a call on the 10th of July asking for availability confirmation for the interview on the 11th July. Got the interview email couple of hours later.

Interviewer was a few mins late. She was actively interacting with me throughout the interview. She was very friendly. But she was not very helpful. At times it felt like she had no idea what she was talking about.

The first question was worded in a confusing manner, having the words "nodes, edges, connection, redundancy, priority". Only the first input was given. I had to guess and confirm the output. I suggested the other inputs and outputs. Many times she said that the expected output I suggested was correct and then later, said she was sorry and that she was wrong about it. Initially, she didn't share the first input so I suggested a graph approach which was wrong. Then moved to a DP based solution which was not correct. Did not solve this question. Already 45mins had passed. Twice midway through the discussion I asked if I was headed in the right direction, she said yes but nearing the end suggested to drop DP and try a different approach. I still don't understand this question.

For the second question, I suggested a brute force to binary search (MlogN) approach. She said binary search is also brute force. I was discussing other solutions but with 5 mins left she said binary search is also optimal, so code it. But time was up. Now, I understand there is a better solution but at that moment, right after hearing "brute force" my brain gave up and stopped working lol.

Verdict: Rejected