Technical Process At Amazon
Technical interview process is most important at Amazon. You will asked on range of topics. You may also be required to appear for technical test in this round. Candidate will have to perform coding and system design exercises on a whiteboard or write a code on laptop.
Below is the list of topics on which technical round will take place.
- Programming languages
Amazon Behavioral Questions: Dive Deep
“Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdote differ. No task is beneath them.
When something isnt working, Amazon employees need to be able to find solutions quickly. Interviewers want to see that you are excited to dive deep and work out a durable response when problems arise.
Example behavioral questions asked at Amazon: Dive deep
- Tell me about a time when you used a lot of data in a short period of time
- Tell me about a project in which you had to deep dive into analysis
- Tell me about the most complex problem you have worked on
Work On Coding Know Your Basics
The general advice, no matter the tech company is to know your basics:algorithms, data structure, complexity, you have to know these topics.If you do not know, do not even go and try, you will waste your time.
I would advise to read at list two books:
- Elements of Programming Interviews: the most complete resource to be prepared for algorithmic, design and other technical aspects
- Cracking the Code Interview: a good second book that explains also what to expect during the interview.
If you think you already know your basics and you do not need this, think twice.Reading Elements of Programming Interviews will definitively refresh your skills.
You can also go for a mock interview, a coding bootcamp. Whatever. Be ready to writecode on whiteboard and answer to some basic questions.
Also Check: What To Ask When Conducting An Interview
Amazon Business Intelligence Engineer Interview Questions
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Anonymous Interview Candidate in Seattle, WA
I applied through an employee referral I interviewed at Amazon in Mar 2020
InterviewInterview Questions
- probability of the product coming from location A is 0.8 and from location B is 0.6. What is the probability the customers will receive the product from location A or location B SQL – tested on different join , lead , lag, pivoting in sql , sub query, group by having, where, aggregate and think about how you would find outliers)
Application
I applied through other source. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon in Nov 2021
InterviewInterview Questions
- Given an orders table and a products table give me a list of all product categories, the number or orders they had and the total revenue.
Amazon Trms Watson Glaser Test
The Watson Glaser test is divided into five sections – Inference, recognizing assumptions, deduction, interpretation, and evaluation of arguments. Each section has its own question type that assesses a particular critical thinking ability.
The test is verbal, and requires a deep and concise understanding of when and to what extent of certainty can one draw conclusions based on given data the ability to determine whether certain assumptions have been made in a text, be they true or not and objectively assessing the validity of arguments, regardless of prejudice or personal experience.
The short version, which is commonly used today, includes 40 questions and takes between 20 to 30 minutes to complete. Practicing these types of questions before taking the test is critical, because the differences between some of the sections are minute, and because the rules of deduction of the Watson Glaser test are different from other known deduction tests.
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What Exactly Is Amazon Looking For
At the end of each interview your interviewer will grade your performance using a standardized feedback form that summarizes the attributes Amazon looks for in a candidate. That form is constantly evolving, but we have listed some of its main components below.
A) Notes
The interviewer will file the notes they took during the interview. This usually includes: the questions they asked, a summary of your answers and any additional impressions they had .
B) Technical competencies
Your interviewer will then grade you on technical competencies. They will be trying to determine whether you are “raising the bar” or not for each competency they have tested. In other words, you’ll need to convince them that you are at least as good as or better than the average current Amazon SDE at the level you’re applying for .
The exact technical competencies you’ll be evaluated against vary by role. But here are some common ones for SDE roles:
- Problem solving
- Have Backbone Disagree and Commit
- Etc.
D) Overall recommendation
Finally, each interviewer will file an overall recommendation into the system. The different options are along the lines of: “Strong hire”, “Hire”, “No hire”, “Strong no hire”.
Amazons 14 Leadership Principles
Though coding interviews at Amazon are similar to other big tech companies, there are a few differences in their process, in particular, the Bar Raiser. Amazon brings in an objective third-party interviewer called a Bar Raiser, who evaluates candidates on Amazons 14 Leadership Principles. The Bar Raiser has complete veto power over whether or not you will be hired.
It is unlikely that you will know which of your interviewers is the Bar Raiser. The key is to take every part of the interview seriously and always assume youre being evaluated for cultural fit as well as technical competency.
Below are the 14 values that you will be evaluated on.
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The Amazon Onsite Interview The Loop
Like most other big tech companies, the Amazon onsite comprises 3 to 4 rounds that test your coding skills.
The structure of onsite interviews at Amazon is as follows:
- Rounds 1 and 2: The first two rounds cover data structures and algorithms. Youâll most likely be asked to solve a couple of problems on a Whiteboard.
- Rounds 3 and 4: The next two rounds cover questions around distributed system design. The difficulty of questions asked in system design interviews increases progressively for higher positions.
- Behavioral round: The onsite also includes a round that tests your behavioral attributes. This round is popularly called the Bar Raiser round.
The name the Bar Raiser comes from the fact that the interviewer conducting the last round has the power to veto your application if you fail to meet the bar. In this round, youâll essentially be assessed on Amazonâs 14 Leadership Principles, and your performance in this round will have a telling impact on the outcome of the onsite interview.
In fact, your performance in this round will determine if youâre the right fit or not.
Amazon Assessment Test Optional
One of the stages of the hiring process is the Amazon assessment test. You wont always have to pass this test, but if you do, it will be the second most difficult part of the process, right after the behavioral interview. The name is a general name given to a variety of assessments, which differ depending on the position you are trying to get with Amazon, such as:
- The Amazon Maintenance Technician Test
- The Amazon Warehouse Assessment Test
- The Amazon Manager Assessment
- The Amazon Work Style Assessment
- The Amazon Retail Assessment
- ..
We can talk for hours about these tests, but the best way to prepare for them is practice. If you are not sure how to pass the tests, and will have to pass them, I suggest you to check out the following , where you can comfortably practice all the tests in advance, before doing them for real on the big day.
Thank you for reading the entire page, and I wish you good luck in your interview with Amazon! You will need it
Matthew
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Can I Share Multiple Situations From The Same Project
Yes, you can. You can chunk long projects up in distinct situations where you demonstrated different Leadership Principles. Do not ever assume that just because one of your projects took years to come to an important milestone, you have to use it to answer just one question. Instead, consider long projects or programs as sources of multiple situations.
Find All Subsets Of A Given Set Of Integers
We are given a set of integers and we have to find all the possible subsets of this set of integers. The following example elaborates on this further.
Given set of integers:
There are several ways to solve this problem. We will discuss the one that is neat and easier to understand. We know that for a set of n elements there are 2 n 2^n 2n subsets. For example, a set with 3 elements will have 8 subsets. Here is the algorithm we will use:
n = size of given integer setsubsets_count = 2^nfor i = 0 to subsets_count form a subset using the value of 'i' as following: bits in number 'i' represent index of elements to choose from original set, if a specific bit is 1 choose that number from original set and add it to current subset, e.g. if i = 6 i.e 110 in binary means that 1st and 2nd elements in original array need to be picked. add current subset to list of all subsets
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Interview With Hiring Manager
This portion is either in person or via a phone call with the hiring manager, who would be your direct manager. The hiring manager is on your side. They have the biggest pain point, meaning that they really need to hire someone. Itâs in their best interest to be nice to you, and they usually are. That doesnât mean you wonât get tough questions. However, I ï¬nd that this ï¬rst meeting with the hiring manager is going to be one of the main chances where you get to ask speciï¬c questions about the role. For this interview, you should be ready to sell yourself. Prepare fewer questions about the company culture, and more questions about what kind of goals the manager has, what projects you would work on immediately, and their expectations for the role. The hiring manager will usually be the âeasiestâ interviewer you come in contact with. Your conversation will likely be about the role itself and your career goals, along with what relevant experience you have for the job. You should use this meeting as a chance to learn as much as possible about the job. You want to ï¬gure out: What would I be doing on a daily basis and what will it be like working with this manager? Here are some good questions to ask them in the first meeting:
Second Part Of The Face To Face Interview Technical Questions And Tests
During your in-person interviews with Amazon , you will have to deal also with difficult technical questions, related mostly to your field of expertise. Practical case studies and computerized exams are nothing unusual.
You will have to demonstrate your creativity, and ability to solve problems of all kind. Not everyone will make it to this stage, and to prepare for it in advance is nearly impossibleunless you have a chance to talk to someone who interviewed for the very same position recently
Your entire life, all your experiences and projects you have ever worked on, mark your preparation for this final stage of Amazon interviews. So I hope you are ready for it
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Amazon Interview Process For Fresher
Amazon regularly recruits from top colleges and off campus drive for entry level position. For example in India, Amazon hire for mainly 2 position- Software Development Engineer and Cloud Support Associate.
Amazon conducts 5-6 rounds to select freshers as SDE and CSAin their organization. The following rounds are conducted:
Highlight Important Past Projects
Make a note of the most important projects youâve worked on throughout your professional career and prepare yourself to answer questions around them.
Recruiters are always keen to learn about your experience and the projects you were a part of â for example, how you went about planning the project, how you handled hiccups that came along the way, and so on.
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Amazon Behavioral Questions: Top 5
First, we wanted to highlight the most common behavioral questions that Amazon asks across every role weve studied. It is very likely that youll be asked at least one of these questions. Youll see that regardless of the role, Amazon is curious about why you want to work for them specifically, how you face setbacks, and whether youre willing to stand up for your ideas.
Here are the questions.
- Tell me about a time you failed at work. What did you learn from it?
- Tell me about a challenge you faced. What was your role & the outcome?
- Tell me about a time you disagreed with a coworker / manager / decision
- Tell me about a time you had to work or make a decision quickly / under a tight deadline
How Far Back Into My Career Should My Situations Go
Unless you have a career gap, please aim for the situations to not be older than five years. The one exception could be an answer to the Are Right A Lot interview question about an error of judgment. There, you could potentially go to 6-7 years as an exception. I’m not aware of any official guidelines, but I’d use these as guardrails.
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Amazon Behavioral Questions: Ownership
Leaders are owners. They think long term and dont sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say ‘thats not my job.'”
To work at Amazon, you cant be a person who thinks, Thats not my job! when facing a task that needs to get done. When answering ownership questions, youll want to prove that you take initiative, can make tough decisions, and accept responsibility for your mistakes.
Example behavioral questions asked at Amazon: Ownership
- Tell me about a time you did something at work that wasn’t your responsibility / in your job description
- Tell me about a time when you went over and above your job responsibility in order to help the company
- Tell me about a time when you had to make an important decision without approval from your boss
- How would you make Amazon.com better?
Learn About Amazon’s Culture
Most candidates fail to do this. But before investing tens of hours preparing for an interview at Amazon, you should take some time to make sure it’s actually the right company for you.
Amazon is prestigious and it’s tempting to assume that you should apply, without considering things more carefully. But, it’s important to remember that the prestige of a job won’t make you happy in your day-to-day work. It’s the type of work and the people you work with that will.
If you know engineers who work at Amazon or used to work there, talk to them to understand what the culture is like. The leadership principles we discussed above can give you a sense of what to expect, but there’s no replacement for a conversation with an insider. Finally, we would also recommend reading the following resources:
- Calculate time complexity
- Discuss how you can optimize your solution
To practice solving questions we recommend using Leetcode where you can get a lot done with the free tier. If you want to take things a step further, you can also access Amazon-specific questions using Leetcode’s premium tier. Don’t forget to practice questions on a whiteboard or simple text editor instead of an IDE.
3.2.2 System design interview preparation
For system design interviews, we recommend getting used to the step-by-step approach hinted at by Amazon in the video below.
Here is a summary of the approach:
3.2.3 Behavioral interview preparation
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What Resume Format Will Guarantee That My Profile Will Get In Front Of The Hiring Manager
Contrary to a plethora of resume advice, the best format is the one that is optimised for a quick scan by human eyes. No fancy infographics, no photos, no colours and no progress bars. A white A4 sheet with Times New Roman , size 11. Clean, tidy and well-sectioned. If you’re not feeling confident about your resume content and formatting, we highly recommend having yours reviewed by an actual Amazon recruiter here.
