Amazon SDE-1 Interview Experience | 1-2 YOE | Selected

I recently received an offer for the SDE-1 role at Amazon and wanted to share my interview experience with everyone preparing for similar opportunities.

Here is a breakdown of how the process went for me.

Round 1: Online Assessment (OA)

The OA consisted of coding questions and an AI-assisted round.

I was able to solve one coding question completely. In the AI-assisted round, I passed 4 out of 6 test cases. Although I didn't clear every test case, I continued preparing and waited for an update.

About a week later, the recruiter called to ask if I was available for an in-person interview at the Bangalore office. After confirming my availability, I moved to the next stage.

Round 2: Technical Interview 1

The first technical interview covered DSA and behavioral questions based on Amazon's Leadership Principles.

• DSA: A hard-level linked list problem and a modified version of Cheapest Flights Within K Stops.

• Leadership Principles: A behavioral question about a time when I had to make a sacrifice.

The coding questions required me to focus on the problem-solving approach, while the behavioral question tested how I handled difficult situations and made decisions. This round highlighted the importance of being prepared for both technical and non-technical discussions.

I followed the Striver DSA Sheet for my DSA preparation. It helped me practise important topics, understand common problem-solving patterns.

Round 3: Technical Interview 2

The second technical round took place on the same day and included a DSA problem followed by behavioral questions.

• DSA: A medium-to-hard problem involving arrays and hashing, where I had to identify patterns in the input and come up with an efficient solution.

• Behavioral: Questions based on Amazon's Leadership Principles, focusing on my past experiences and decision-making.

I first broke down the coding problem and discussed my approach before moving toward the implementation. The round tested my ability to choose an efficient solution and explain the trade-offs involved.

For the behavioral questions, I focused on sharing specific experiences and explaining the actions I took and the outcomes.

Round 4: Hiring Manager (HM)

I received an email about the HM round two days after the technical interviews. The interview was later rescheduled and eventually took place about a week afterward.

This round focused on Low-Level Design (LLD) and Leadership Principles.

The design discussion wasn't extremely deep, but having a clear understanding of object-oriented programming, design principles, and commonly used design patterns was useful. Being able to explain how different components fit together and why a particular design approach makes sense is important when discussing LLD.

The behavioral part focused on my previous experiences and how I approached different situations.

Round 5: Bar Raiser

The Bar Raiser round was entirely behavioral and focused heavily on Amazon's Leadership Principles.

The interviewer asked several questions about my past experiences and followed up in detail to understand my decisions, reasoning, actions, and the outcomes. It wasn't enough to give a brief answer; I needed to explain the context behind my decisions and the impact of my actions.

Preparing multiple behavioral stories helped me handle these follow-up questions. It also made it easier to choose relevant experiences for different questions instead of trying to come up with an example on the spot.

My suggestion would be to prepare stories that demonstrate ownership, handling challenges, making trade-offs, resolving disagreements, and learning from mistakes. Be honest about your individual contribution and the results you achieved.

Final Result: Selected

I received the offer approximately a week after the Bar Raiser round.

All the best to everyone preparing for Amazon interviews, I hope this experience helps you plan your preparation better.