Amazon SDE-1(AUTA) Interview Experience 2026

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· SDE-1· Bangalore· 0.67y exp
July 30, 2026 · 0 reads

Summary

I interviewed for an Amazon SDE-1 role in Bangalore, completed four rounds (technical, system design, hiring manager, and bar raiser) and was ultimately not selected.

Full Experience

Role- SDE-1
Experience- 8 Months (Non-tech role)

Gave OA in March which contained 2 medium-hard DSA problem and work-style simulation, recieved Hiring interest form in April and then Onsite round was scheduled in BLR.

Round-1 (Technical-Onsite)

Interviewers introduced themselves and asked one LP question, which was about a time when you exceeded expectations

Then a Medium level DSA problem was asked:

Given an array of size n and an integer k, give minimum swaps to make this array k-distinct

  • Discussed the approach, and dry run on an example
  • As time was limited started writing the code on a paper
  • Discussed the optimized approach using priority queue
  • Discussion on time-complexity, space-complexity of the solution and some discussion around time-complexity of hash-maps

This round went for around 50 minutes
After lunch round 2 was scheduled

Round-2 (Technical-Onsite)

Interviewers introduced themselves and told that this round will focus on code maintainability, I was not aware of it as I expected another DSA round

Problem Statement: Given a log with different levels: INFO, DEBUG, ERROR, MESSAGE. Build a system which can handle and print these logs, consider a stream of logs are there.

  • Tried different approaches using hashmaps, linked-list
  • Explained my thought process
  • Wrote some class structure and code

I was not able to complete the code and interviewer was also not satisfied, Correct approach was Chain of responsibility Pattern, which I didn't know

A LP question which was based on Ownership was asked.

After 2 weeks round 3 was scheduled

Round-3 (HM Round-Virtual)

Interview started with a discussion on Gen-AI and how I use it in my day-to-day work

  • A time when LLM gave me wrong output
  • How I verify agents output
  • Explain How you will work on a feature from start to end using agents

After this 1 DSA problem was asked which was surprisingly MERGE INTERVALS (Typical LC problem)

Follow-up: INSERT INTERVAL
Another follow-up: A stream of intervals are coming at you which data-structure will you use for this?

Interview ended with my question

After 3 weeks Bar-Raiser was scheduled

Round-4 (Bar Raiser-Virtual)

Interviewer was a SDM with 7 YOE, This round was purely non-technical

He asked 7-8 LP questions which was based on Ownership, Exceeded Expectation, Have Backbone, Invent and simplify, Deliver Results

  • Tell me a time when you had a disagreement with your manager
  • Tell me a time when you dealt with a critical feedback
  • Tell me a time when you exceeded expectations

I prepared 8 LP stories for this and practiced them thoroughly

Verdict

Although I wasn't selected but this loop interview was really a learning experience for me. I hope this helps you to get some insights about the process

Keep Grinding!!

Interview Questions (3)

1.

Minimum swaps to make array k-distinct

Data Structures & Algorithms·Medium

Given an array of size n and an integer k, find the minimum number of swaps required to make the array k‑distinct.

2.

Log handling system with multiple log levels

System Design

Given a log stream containing levels INFO, DEBUG, ERROR, MESSAGE, design a system that can handle and print these logs.

3.

Merge Intervals and Insert Interval with streaming intervals

Data Structures & Algorithms·Medium

Standard Merge Intervals problem. Follow‑up includes implementing Insert Interval and choosing a data structure for handling a continuous stream of intervals.

Preparation Tips

I prepared 8 leadership principle stories and practiced them thoroughly.

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