Amazon SDE-1(AUTA) Interview Experience 2026
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)
Minimum swaps to make array k-distinct
Given an array of size n and an integer k, find the minimum number of swaps required to make the array k‑distinct.
Log handling system with multiple log levels
Given a log stream containing levels INFO, DEBUG, ERROR, MESSAGE, design a system that can handle and print these logs.
Merge Intervals and Insert Interval with streaming intervals
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.