Amazon | SDE-2 | Bangalore | Another failed attempt
Summary
This was my third attempt at Amazon, and despite reaching the final stages, I was rejected again, this time with the recruiter ghosting me without feedback. Overall, I felt satisfied with my performance.
Full Experience
This marked my third complete interview cycle with Amazon for an SDE-2 role. I'm currently working at a product company and have 5 years of experience. I've consistently approached the final stages but faced rejection each time. This time, the recruiter ghosted me and didn't even bother to share feedback.
Round 1 - Coding Assessment
I was asked two medium-level LeetCode questions. One focused on trees, which I don't recall the exact problem for but it involved fundamental tree traversal. The second question presented a scenario with a theater having `n` seats in `m` columns. I had to determine the number of possible seating arrangements to accommodate groups of four individuals sitting together, given the coordinates of already occupied seats.Round 2 - High-Level Design (HLD)
This round felt smooth to me. I had to design an online chess system, focusing on features like a leaderboard and organizing competitions. This was followed by two Leadership Principle (LP) questions.Round 3 - Low-Level Design (LLD)
This round started with two LP questions. The main problem was designing a task scheduler. The interviewer also delved into multiple aspects related to estimating the completion time for tasks within the scheduler. I successfully came up with a high-level plan first and then drew a UML diagram showing the user journey.Round 4 - Hiring Manager - Bar Raiser
- The interviewer deeply explored my past experiences, pulling details directly from my resume.
- I was asked two Leadership Principle (LP) questions.
- Finally, there was one LeetCode hard problem. This problem seemed very tricky, as I had never encountered anything similar before. The task was to determine if a node (defined as `struct Node{ Node* node1; Node* node2; }`) would represent a Doubly Linked List (DLL) or a tree. I was partially able to code the solution for the DLL part but couldn't come up with the logic for determining a tree data structure in time. The interviewer gave a hint at the end, suggesting I look for cycles to determine the tree structure.
Interview Questions (4)
In a theater with n seats arranged in m columns, I was asked to determine the number of possible seating arrangements to accommodate groups of four individuals sitting together. Input parameters included the coordinates of already occupied seats.
I had to design an online chess system, taking care of features like a leaderboard and organizing competitions. This was followed by 2 Leadership Principle (LP) questions.
The problem involved designing a task scheduler. Additionally, the interviewer explored multiple aspects related to estimating the completion time for tasks within the scheduler. I was able to come up with the high-level plan first and later on drew the UML diagram showing the user journey.
I was given a Node structure like struct Node{ Node* node1; Node* node2; } and asked to determine if a given node would represent a Doubly Linked List (DLL) or a tree. The interviewer gave a hint to see if there is a cycle to determine the tree structure.