Amazon.com Interview Questions & Reviews

Interview Details – The interview process was pretty extensive and difficult. It all started back in late October when I was first contacted by Amazon HR Recruiters. They said they received an application from me back in February and found me to be a potential match, inviting me to interview with them over the phone. And thus we started the long process. Over the course of the next three months, we scheduled three phone interviews, separately.

Each phone interview was approximately 45 minutes long. They were each from different people in different departments. Each interview asked me questions regarding concepts, my history with software, and then gave me approximately 15 to 25 minutes to answer three different, programming questions on the following concepts: string manipulation, databases, query languages, design a system, etc.

The first interview was initiated by an Asian fellow with a thick accent. Although I do not discriminate, i felt very nervous during this interview because I could not hear a word he was saying and had to ask him to repeat himself multiple times until the point where he got uncomfortably angry and decided the interview was done and I could email him my answers. Feeling like I had completely failed this interview, I didn't have any hope and returned to my life. Two and a half weeks later, I heard back from the recruiter, offering a 2nd phone interview. The interview was similar to the first, asking questions and then answering 3 programming questions, including questions on number theory and set theory. Another two weeks after that, I heard back inviting me for a 3rd phone interview. A week and half after scheduling, I completed the 3rd phone interview which was majority design questions and a few programming questions. Each of the 3 phone interviews required me to write and explain code to them on an online chat website. Keep in mind that while coding, they could see each line you entered. A week after the 3rd interview, I was invited for an on-site interview, which was scheduled for 3 weeks later.

The overall process was stretched over the course of three months due to scheduling conflicts and holidays.

Following the phone screens, I was flown out to Seattle. Amazon is pretty generous about interviewing, offering free flights, hotel stay, as well as reimbursements on food and taxi cabs. After arriving in Seattle, I checked into my hotel and went down to Pike Market for some dinner. Brought dinner back up stairs, sat on my bed and studied for a few hours before going to bed. The interview started at 10:15 AM. I got to Amazon HQ at approximately 9:30 AM, checked in with reception, and had some amazing conversations with other people in the lobby. At 10:15AM, I was taken upstairs by an HR Recruiter who was incredibly nice. We sat in a conference room with an incredible view and talked for about 20 minutes about her story and involvement at Amazon, as well as prepping me to undergo an extremely long interview process. The greatest thing about Amazon is that they understand how difficult something can be, and tell you straight foreward, "This is hard, and only the best of the best get an offer, but we keep in mind when interviewing, that we were at once in the same seat as you are", offered me good luck, a bottle of water, and walked out, as the first interview walked into the room.

All I can say about the on-site interview was that we were in the room for about 6 hours, with 6 rounds of interviews after the initial HR meeting.

This is where my review ends. You may be surprised to read that not very many people offer information about the on-site interview, and that is mainly because each person who interviews on-site signs a NDA paper. This may frustrate you, but keep in mind that we all go in some-what blind, and that you don't need to know what will be asked, but all you need is the confidence in yourself. It doesn't matter what questions they ask. Sometimes they don't even care about your answers and its just more of the fact that they can see someone who is confident and believes in themselves. At the end of the day, it is important to know your stuff, but it is more important to be yourself, and confident about who you are.

Interviews are hard. If you get to the on-site level, be proud of yourself, not that many people get this far. "You done good, son!" Not everyone gets this same type of interview that I did. Some people skip the phone screens and on-site rounds and go straight to a group project on-site. Either way, don't get cocky, just make sure you study your material and get crackin on fundamental programming.

Interview Details – Called out of the blue, asked if I'd be interested in interviewing. Still not entirely sure how they got my name. Had first phone interview the next week, asked no personal questions, all technical in nature. Total of 3 phone interviews and an in-person trip out to Seattle.

Took about 4 months start to finish. The people in the in person interview were wonderful. Very smart, laid back, and understanding. Got lunch, small tour of campus, and learned what I'd be doing. Got the offer 2 business days after the in person interview.

Sadly, I signed a NDA and I respect the terms of that. As such, I can't give you any specific questions, but I'll gladly give you the best advice I have.

Phone Interviews :

Phone interviews are sucky by nature. Coordinating a call from west to east coast alone is painful, add the fact that phones just take away the benefits of body language, and just make it harder to hear, and you've got a recipe for disaster. But fear not! Here are some helpful hints, some of which are obvious, some of which are not.

1. Get ready ahead of time. I just mean, get to the area you'll be doing the interview beforehand. I'd recommend an hour or more, just to get your nerves ready. Breathe, get used to the surroundings, and get everything laid out ahead of time. Which brings me to...

2. I know it's a "programming" interview, but for the love of all things good, have a pen and paper ready and at your disposal. Bring a backup pen. Much like a printer, the pen will fail at the worst possible time. You may also need a laptop, as I was asked to do "on the fly" programming. But close anything and everything distracting. Speaking of...

3. Pick a spot where there are no distractions. You'll want your undivided attention on this interview. Don't have BookTweet or FaceSpace or MyGram or that crap open if you have a laptop. And I personally wouldn't pick a public space, you never know when an annoying parent will put their screaming child right beside you.

4. Breathe. Just breathe. Take a moment, stretch, and remember you got this. If you have trouble hearing, don't be afraid to ask again. Don't be afraid to say you don't know. Do as for clarifications, and state assumptions up front. Always re-state the problem as you understand it.

As for the content : For the love of God, know what a time complexity is, and how to determine it for any and all code you write. Know the time complexities of all sorts. Know all data structures, how to use them, and properties of each. (Insertion time, deletion, etc) Generally know what heck you're talking about. But don't talk too much. You don't want silence at any point really, but you certainly don't want to let the interviewer not get a word in. Know graph theory, tree theory, and all the fun stuff associated with more "complex" structures. Understand what your language does behind the scenes, as far as GC and compiling go. Know how your language use internal structures to manage the code/objects you write.

**Continued below**

Negotiation Details – As a recent grad, there wasn't much room for negotiation.

Interview Details – I was contacted by a recruiter for a position with one of the teams at Amazon. Recruiter was really great to work with. The entire team, in fact, was great to work with throughout the process. They care a lot about your experience so if something is really bugging you, do not hesitate to politely express your thoughts and request assistance. Most of the time they'll do their best to accommodate your requests.

1. Recruiter reached out to see if I was interested in the role.
2. Setup 2 phone screens, which went really well. Very situational. All about your experience and ability to think critically about problem solving. How did you solve x,y,z? If you had to fix something at Amazon, what would it be? How would you fix it? Who would be the people to help you? How would you pick your team? What are the steps you take in Product Management?
3. In-person interviews on-site in Seattle. About 6-7 people back-to-back from morning to evening, including lunch. But again, all very nice. All very easy to work with. Take a lot of water breaks and bathroom breaks to compose yourself. Don't think that if I am a spartan I'll get the job... :)
3A. The bar raiser interview for Product Managers is very situational... Examples of questions:
- How do you define/decide if software is working?
- Tell me about a time that you started fixing something small and then realized it was much bigger... how did you solve that?
- And a lot of other tell me about a time...
3B. Take hints from interviewers. You need to listen VERY carefully. If they say, "hey take a look at this. Feel free to click around anywhere..." then click EVERYwhere. Just do your best to make sure they know you're listening to them.
3C. Don't be afraid to state the obvious. If there's a part of the process in testing that you think and know from your experience is manual and is NOT the best answer but is how things are done, then state it. QA requires hands and sometimes not in the technical sense.
3D. Nothing too technical but be prepared to think analytically. Don't be afraid to use the blackboard. Get up there and talk them through what you're thinking. GO WITH YOUR GUT. It is almost always right. If you were selected to interview and passed the first 2 rounds, then you are almost at the finish line which means that at least 3 people believed you have what it takes. So showcase that. Don't second guess yourself!

Other tips:
- Know ALL the leadership principles and do your best to tell your stories in a way that reflects those principles. Don't be obvious as that will sound rehearsed. And if the leadership principles don't resonate then definitely reconsider applying.
- Ask a lot of questions and GOOD ones. Don't just ask questions for the sake of asking... and don't be afraid to ask more about the project or program. A lot of what Amazon does is "under the covers" and there are NDAs that candidates sign, so once you get in there, ask about the program, the project, the "why" or the "so what" to make sure you know what the project is like

Interview Details – I received an email asking for online assessment. There were three question in java or c++
1. Given an array of unique integers and an integer X, count all distinct pairs of integers inside this array that add up to X.
2. Given a binary tree, write a function that returns true if and only if it is a binary search tree.
3.Find the K closest points to the origin in 2D plane, given an array containing N points. You can assume K is much smaller than N and N is very large. You need only use standard math operators (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division).

Interview Details – Applied for job through web site

Reason for Declining – Lower pay than current job.

Interview Details – submitted resume online and get a email from recruiter and made phone interview schedule after 2 weeks. i got a call from one of manager and started phone interview questions. there were many questions on personnel and technical perspective.

Interview Details – Applied online with resume and got contacted by HR for an onsite interview in Seattle. The interview process had a project (4 hour) where we were put in groups of 3 and assigned work. There was half an hour of personal interview as well.

HR got back to me within a day with the job offer!

Negotiation Details – No negotiation for new college grads

Interview Details – Contacted by email for a telephonic screening interview by operations manager in another state. telephonic assessment consisted of situational interview questions and math flow problem concerning production gaols, amount of employees and hrs available per employee,

Interview Details – Applied thru a referral and got an interview request the very next day. Setup an interview a week later. First round of interview was over phone, supposed to be 1 hour long but the interviewer seemed to be in a hurry and ended the call in 30 min. Be prepared to answer questions on coding oops/C++, technical product you build from scratch, data structures and networking