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Summary
I recently interviewed with Amazon for an SDE 2 (L5) position in Bangalore during early 2024 and was successfully extended an offer. The interview process spanned several weeks, covering online assessments, coding challenges, low-level design, high-level design, and behavioral questions focusing on Amazon's leadership principles.
Full Experience
Introduction
From February to April 2024, I had the opportunity to interview with Amazon for the SDE 2 (L5) position. With 3.2 years of prior experience as an SDE 2 at a product-based MNC, I was enthusiastic about exploring this new career step. Here's a detailed account of my interview journey.
Application and Initial Contact
An Amazon recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn, requesting my resume. Within a week, I received an online assessment link, followed by four rounds of interviews over the next two months. The offer was finalized in the second week of April 2024.
Online Assessment
This round consisted of two coding questions:
- Question 1: Return the longest decreasing subsequence in a linked list. This was similar to the Longest Increasing Subsequence problem.
- Question 2: Given two categories of movies with start time and duration, I needed to find the minimum time by which I could finish watching at least one movie from each category.
Round 1: Low Level Design (1 hr.)
This round began with introductions, followed by a couple of leadership principles questions, specifically asking me to describe a situation where I had to deep dive into code. The main design question was to design a chat messenger application similar to WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.
Round 2: Coding (1 hr.)
After introductions, I answered leadership principles questions, including one about aiming for a long-term goal over a short-term one. Then came two coding questions:
- Question 1: I was given a matrix of blue ('B') and white ('W') balloons. Each day, all white balloons surrounding blue ones (in 4 directions) convert to blue. I had to return the minimum number of days required to convert all balloons to blue. A follow-up asked how to get the number of blue balloons at any given day (0 to MAX_DAY). My approach for this was BFS.
- Question 2: This was a design question for an Amazon locker service. I needed to design a function to return the locker to be opened when a package is received and another function to retrieve a package for a given customer. Packages could be small, medium, or large. Due to lack of time, I verbally discussed my algorithm and data structures.
Round 3: Hiring Manager, High Level Design (1 hr.)
This round started with introductions and leadership principles discussions, followed by a conversation about my current projects. The main design question was to design an auto-complete or search recommendation system for Amazon Search. I was to assume a ranking algorithm that returns search priority was given, and the target was to show the top 5 searches.
Round 4: Bar Raiser, Coding (1 hr.)
This was the final round, beginning with introductions and leadership principles questions. The coding questions were:
- Question 1: Given a Binary Tree, return the maximum sum of a subset of nodes such that no two nodes in any subset are adjacent. I completely solved this question with a dry run.
- Question 2: Print the actual subset of nodes for the last question. I verbally discussed how to improve the algorithm to print the subset.
Feedback and Result
I received hire feedback within a week, and compensation details were finalized the following week. I accepted the offer.
Interview Questions (10)
Given two categories of movies with start time and duration, find the minimum time by which you can finish watching at least 1 movie of each category.
Describe a situation where you had to deep dive into code.
Design a chat messenger application similar to WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.
Describe a situation where you aimed for a long-term goal rather than a short-term goal.
Given a matrix which contains blue and white balloons. At any given day all the white balloons surrounding the blue ones in 4 direction(up, down, left, right) are convert to blue ones. Return minimum number of days required to convert all balloons to blue.
Input:
W W W W W W B W W W W W B W W W
Output: 3
Explanation: Day 1:
W W B W W B B B B W B W B B W W
Day 2:
W B B B B B B B B B B B B B B W
Day 3:
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B
Design a locker service for packages with the following functions:
- A function to return the appropriate locker to be opened when a package is received.
- A function to retrieve a package for a given customer. Assume packages can be of 3 sizes: small, medium, and large.
Design an auto-complete or search recommendation system for Amazon Search. Assume a ranking algorithm is provided that returns the search priority. The target is to show the top 5 search recommendations.
Given a Binary Tree, return the maximum sum of a subset of nodes such that no two nodes in the subset are adjacent.
Print the subset of nodes that yield the maximum sum such that no two nodes in the subset are adjacent (from the previous question).
Preparation Tips
I diligently prepared for this interview process by focusing on strengthening my data structures and algorithms knowledge, reviewing system design principles, and practicing Amazon's specific leadership principles through various behavioral scenarios. My prior experience as an SDE 2 at another product-based MNC also played a significant role in my readiness.