I applied online. The process took 1+ week. I interviewed at Amazon in Jan 2015
Interview
Applied online and was contacted by recruiter to set up a phone interview for a position that was different than what I applied for. Interviewer did not seem to know anything about me (hadn't looked at my resume as far as I could tell), or seem to know what position I was interviewing for, and at first seemed to be accusing me of applying for the wrong job. He didn't seem interested finding out either, and instead just started asking some vague questions in a mildly aggressive way. They jumped back and forth between topics, so I was never sure what exactly I was supposed to be talking abut. He kept interrupting my answers after a sentence or two (possibly just because I wasn't answering the question he wanted answered, but that was because his questions were so vague). This was a technical interview with a coding component, which he presented as optional - I had been told this would be a part of it but putting it as optional made it pretty clear he'd already decided to pass on me. I said I'd do it (for the experience) and while what was expected of me was now clearer, he continued to interrupt me when I spoke and eventually I asked him in he wanted to me continue and he said no.
Overall it seemed very unprofessional - this guy shouldn't be interviewing people or he should get some training or preparation before doing so. I felt like I had to be on the defensive from the minute he started talking to me. It doesn't seem like a good sign for the company if this is how a typical interview is conducted, and based on this it is not a place I would want to work (or at a minimum, not a person I'd want to work with). I don't expect to hear back from them and that's probably better for all involved.
The phone screen was straightforward, starting with some basic algorithm questions. After a few minutes of discussing my background, we dove into a coding challenge about finding two numbers that sum to a target. I enjoyed explaining both the brute-force method and the optimized hash map approach. The wild part was that I had practiced a similar problem on PracHub just a few days earlier, so it felt familiar. Following this, there was a technical round focused on machine learning concepts, which went smoothly before I received a written offer. Overall, a positive and engaging experience.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Given an array of integers, find two numbers that sum to a target value. Start with a brute-force O(n^2) approach, then optimize using a hash map to O(n). Walk through edge cases (duplicates, negative numbers, no valid pair) and discuss the space-time tradeoff.
The interview process was smooth, and the interviewer was professional and friendly. It was online and took about 35 minutes. The recruiter will give you some guidelines on how to prepare.
Only had first round, a recruiter reached out to me as I had applied for another role. the total time to interview was 2 weeks. One recruiter interview and then with the hiring manager
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Low level system design about designing a ranking system based on the number of sales of a product as well as taking into consideration the time complexity. had to do some in O(logn)