Amazon.com Technical Program Manager Interview Questions & Reviews
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Updated Feb 9, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
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Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 19 ratings 
“Difficult” Interview
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Interview Experience [?] Based on 19 ratings
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| 1–10 of 19 Amazon.com Interviews | Sort by |
Technical Program Manager at Amazon.com
Posted Feb 9, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jan 2012 in Seattle, WA (took 6 weeks)
Amazon.com contacted from a resume posting on Ladders.com.
Actually had two go rounds. The first was two phone interviews then a trip to Seattle and one on interviews with six interviewers. The first interview was technical in nature and came down to basically how do you scale systems. The second was a senior program manager, which was a good talk on management style.
The on-site interview was 11-4 and consisted of six one-hour interviews including one over lunch. I was interviewed for two positions. Questions weren't particularly tough and technically mostly about scalability of systems. Some of the younger interviewers seem to be following a script or were responsible to get an answer on a specific area.
I thought it went well but never heard back from Amazon.inc for six weeks and, of course, with no feedback.
I was surprised to hear back from them in January 2012 to set up another set of interviewers. This time, the recruiter was a total flake. On the first attempt for the initial phone interview, the interviewer was a no show. The interview was rescheduled for two weeks later. Amazon offered no explanation or apology.
This interview did not go well. I took an immediate dislike to the interviewer, a eastern European of some sort. He was arrogant and disinterested. I think this was a check box interview and a waste of both of our time.
Overall, Amazon's interview process is, well, a bit moronic. Very few organizational "fit" questions. It felt scripted and mechanic.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Technical Program Manager at Amazon.com
Posted Jan 24, 2012
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Sep 2011 in Seattle, WA (took 3 days)
I spoke with a recruiter and he informed me that the first step in the process was to have a Technical interview. Three days later I ways contacted by one of their Senior Designers. The interview questions were very detailed given the job role. I was asked about how to implement hashing algorithms and load balancing. I felt that many of the questions were better suited to someone applying for a designer or architecture position. It was explained to me that Amazon is developing a culture where all levels of management are very hands on and can assist team members in designing & writing code if needed. This was not a good fit for me, since it has been over 15 years since I last wrote any code. This is a different philosophy than used by the Project Management Institute. It was also explained that all work would need to be performed on-site in Seattle, Washington.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Technical Program Manager at Amazon.com
Posted Jan 6, 2012
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2.0
Easy Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Dec 2011 in Seattle, WA (took 2 weeks)
Amazon found my resume online and called me for a TPM role. I had 2 phone interviews with them, first on Agile/SCRUM, second a more technical one (how do you design a system etc.). Both interviews and conversations went really well. The guys I talked to were nice, non-intimidating, good interviewers. But after the second interview I got an email from them saying they decided to move forward with other candidates! I asked for some feedback and the recruiter said Amazon has a non-feedback policy. What is this policy? how does it help Amazon and how does it help the candidate? where is the learning in this about the interview and about potential matches or non-matches?
I have never seen this before. Does anyone know if other companies do this as well? is this becoming standard? hope not. Its not at Microsoft, which is great cause then you can target your search better.
Anyway ...
ExitSpeed
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Technical Program Manager at Amazon.com
Posted Dec 11, 2011 — 1 of 1 people found this helpful
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jul 2010 in Seattle, WA (took 3 weeks)
I had applied for the TPM position on their website and received an email from a recruiter within a week to schedule a phone interview. The phone interview lasted for an hour and I spoke with another TPM. They asked me quite a few questions that related to cultural fit, experience, etc. "What would your colleagues say about you if they were at a bar w/o you, etc". Within a day I received a follow up message for a 2nd phone interview with a different person. Same type questions, just a bit more specific to the potential role. Within a few days I received an email re: an onsite interview in Seattle. Amazon flew me up and paid all expenses. The interview process at Amazon lasted about 4-5 hours and I saw around 6-7 different people, all one on one. The first person I met with was a recruiter explaining the salary, benefits, etc. From there I met with an engineer, a QA person and other various people within Amazon. I had the most difficult time during the technical interview with the engineer as I wasn't prepared for the questions asked and the interviewee was very dry. Our personalties didn't quite gel. I had to problem solve quite a few various issues thrown at me and work on my solution on the board. Again, I wasn't prepared for these type of questions so it did take me a bit of time to get rolling with them.
Overall it was a fantastic experience and I would love the opportunity for another interview with such a fantastic company.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview and a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Technical Program Manager at Amazon.com
Posted Dec 9, 2011
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Declined Offer
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Interviewed Dec 2011 in Seattle, WA (took 6 weeks)
I was called by one of their recruiters after a friend referred my resume onward, and then began a series of three phone screens with people in various Technical Program Manager roles across the company to get a feel for me, my personality and if I'd be a good cultural fit for the company. The interview questions were mostly about projects I've managed in the past, examples of things that I designed/managed that went really well and those that didn't, and one of the interviews had me analyze a current Amazon product or service for its strengths and weaknesses. Next, I needed to submit a writing sample to them answering one of two questions about challenges I've had in the past and how I solved them.
Once that was in, I was invited to fly to Seattle and interview in-person with six different managers and senior managers. The interviews ranged from discussions on managing teams, how would I solve technical problems that Amazon has encountered, and a few design questions both real-world to Amazon and more esoteric in nature where I would whiteboard a solution. Everyone I spoke to seemed to radiate about the company and the culture there, whilst noting that the biggest problem is finding the right talent and the rush to find and hire the right people fast enough.
Interview Questions
Reason for Declining
The team that made me the initial offer wasn't the one I was most interested in joining.
Other Details
I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview and a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Technical Program Manager at Amazon.com
Posted Oct 4, 2011
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Sep 2011 in Seattle, WA (took 3 weeks)
A recruiter internal to Amazon found my resume and contacted me to set up a phone interview. I had two phone screens, about 3 weeks apart, with two different technical program managers. Both interviewers were very professional and seemed really sharp, and probably would be great to work with. Although I was interviewing for a leadership-type position, most of the questions were semi-technical. It has been 2-3 weeks since the second interview, so at this point I assume that they have moved on to other candidates.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Technical Program Manager at Amazon.com
Posted Sep 7, 2011 — 1 of 1 people found this helpful
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Sep 2011 in Seattle, WA (took a day)
The recruiter gave me a link to Google Docs page which expired at the right time and did not function where I had to write my code and the interviewer double checked and confirmed that but he wasnt bothered either.
Thats where I was to write my code.
Couple of technical questions like.
1. Convert ascii to integer.
2. Find phone numbers from a file on the filesystem.
3. How would you find info of related products for a particular product ?
4. How would you Project Manage such a project ? what would be the key steps of the plan ?
So basically have neither received yes for next round of tele interview nor have rejected the offer or they have rejected me at the time of writing this.
Now waiting for the next tele round.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Technical Program Manager at Amazon.com
Posted Aug 11, 2011
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Aug 2011 in Seattle, WA (took 3 weeks)
Initial contact was through email with no mention of the role, etc. I asked to have a job description sent. The job description required in depth coding skills. I emailed the recruiter back and told her I was not interested...hadn't coded in years and didn't want to and probably could not meet their min bar. Was told I would never have to code and the JD was generic. Huh? Ok, I agreed to the first phone interview just to see what they had. I can only describe the first interviewer as an arrogant prick, but civilized about it. Despite what I thought was a horrible experience (I was quite blunt with him and in several instances told him the question he was asking was irrelevant if this wasn't a coding position, etc) I was offered a second phone interview, which I agreed to. This was with the hiring manager and she was quite pleasant. Explained things clearer and added a dimension to the weak explanations I had recieved from first guy. I actually thought that interview went quite well, but in the end was sent an email about a week later indicating I would not be moving to the next stage. They did encourage me to apply for other opportunities, which may or may not be a canned response.
Overall, I was impressed with the fact that the company actually gave me a response rather than leaving me hanging. I've heard alot of horror stories about other companies that are not as considerate. I did get the impression in the Kindle Division (where this position was located) things are very hectic and people are expected to work an insane amount of hours and burn out is high. I wasn't particularly interested in the Company or the role, but really just wanted to see what kind of an offer I could get out of them. Perhaps in the end that showed through and played a part in my loop stopping before the on-site interview.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Technical Program Manager at Amazon.com
Posted Jul 21, 2011 — 1 of 1 people found this helpful
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jul 2011 (took 8 weeks)
7 interviews with various members of staff including product managers, program managers and dev managers.
Intense and pretty challenging.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Technical Program Manager at Amazon.com
Posted Jul 16, 2011 — 0 of 1 people found this helpful
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Declined Offer
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Interviewed Feb 2009 (took 2 days)
Amazon has a very methodical interview process. After the initial phone screen, they have an onsite where a couple of 1:1 interviews are done for the entire day. Every is very professional and respectful. Insightful questions and a genuine interest in trying to understand the skills and experience of the candidate.
Interview Questions
Reason for Declining
Location. Did not want to move away from the bay area to Seattle
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
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