How To Study For Amazon Interview

Application And Interview Schedule

After submitting your resume and job application to or through anyrecruitment website like Glassdoor or LinkedIn, if an Amazon recruiter isinterested in hiring you, theyll reach out to you via email or LinkedIn to askfor a phone interview. Job coaches recommend scheduling the call as soon aspossible and not to extend the waiting time in an attempt to get ready.

What Good Questions To Ask At The End Of An Amazon Interview

Interviewing isnt just about quoting well-rehearsed answers. It is a conversation. Its your chance not only to make contact and impress the interviewer but also finally collect the information you need.

Weve made a list of top 10 questions to ask at an Amazon interview.

Do Include Leadership Principles In Your Amazon Interview Preparation

Amazon has a distinct and peculiar culture that the company has forged over the last 20+ years. While 20 years is not old for a huge multinational business, Amazon managed to get incredibly set in its ways. They believe that their culture is the ultimate secret sauce that drives all other elements of business success. Therefore, an Amazon Interview is a vehicle to establish your cultural fit for the business. For non-technical roles, this is the most critical part of your application process.

Here is a particular caution to those interviewing for technical roles. I’ve seen enough questions on social media from SW and BI candidates wondering how critical non-technical assessment is compared to Coding and System Design rounds. My guidance is to treat non-technical evaluation with the same focus and preparation because it is equally as important. In the same Social Media channels, I’ve seen way too many posts from unsuccessful candidates in an Amazon Interview suggesting that they did not do a great job on LPs. If you’re interviewing for a tech role, try to avoid finding yourself in this situation.

Where do you find information about Amazon’s Leadership Principles? First, study , Amazon’s own recruitment website. Then, go through this resource with a fine-tooth comb and soak in every bit of information that it contains.

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Amazon Aws Job Description Skills And Qualities

There are numerous Amazon AWS job roles available, including but not limited to:

• AWS DevOps
• AWS Software Engineer
• AWS Distribution Program Manager.

Working in any Amazon AWS role requires you to set up, maintain, monitor and develop cloud-based web applications and infrastructure. To be effective in the role, you will need to have a thorough understanding of Amazon Web Services and follow best proactive policies and procedures in all of your work. Amazon AWS is rapidly evolving and developing, and on that basis, you will need a wide array of skills, qualities and technical capabilities including competence in Amazon S3, Instances, Subnets, AMI, and also AWS CloudTrail amongst others. It is also important you are able to meet the demands of the 14 Amazon Leadership principles within your AWS role.

Can You Tell Me About Atime When You Were More Than Halfway Through A Project And Had To Pivot Quicklydue To An Unexpected Change How Did You Handle It

This is a question that could be applicable to nearly any role, though it may be more common in technical positions. Its focus is on ascertaining your level of agility and ability to make course corrections under pressure when priorities change.

SAMPLE ANSWER:

While developing a new system for an employer, a requirement came in late. Since the project was rapidly nearing completion, integrating the feature became a challenge. The point in development where it would have been addressed typically had already passed. To address the new requirement, I first took a step back and reexamined all of the existing work. The goal was to minimize disruption to segments that were complete, and a bit of planning ensured I didnt use a less-than-ideal approach simply because I was under pressure. After identifying a course of action, I implemented the changes methodically. I relied heavily on testing to ensure there were no unexpected ramifications or that issues could be addressed quickly. By using a strategic approach, I was able to limit the negative implications of a last-minute change, expediting the remainder of the process while ensuring the final result met every need.

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What Is An Amazon Case Study Interview

Amazon case study interviews, also known as Amazon case interviews, are 20- to 30-minute exercises in which you are placed in a hypothetical business situation and are asked to find a solution or make a recommendation.

First, youll create a framework that shows the approach you would take to solve the case. Then, youll collaborate with the interviewer, answering a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions that will give you the information and data needed to develop an answer. Finally, youll deliver your recommendation at the end of the case.

Case interviews have traditionally been used by consulting firms to assess a candidates potential to become a successful consultant. However, now a days, many companies with ex-consultants use case studies to assess a candidates capabilities. Since Amazon has so many former consultants in its business roles, youll likely encounter at least one case study interview.

The business problems that youll be given in an Amazon case study interview will likely be real challenges that Amazon faces today:

• How can Amazon improve customer retention for their Amazon Prime subscription service?

• How can Amazon improve its digital streaming service?

• How can Amazon increase ad revenues from merchant sellers?

• How should Amazon deal with fake products among its product listings?

• How can Amazon Web Services outcompete Microsoft Azure?

Amazon Behavioral Questions: Deliver Results

“Leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion. Despite setbacks, they rise to the occasion and never settle.

Amazon values action over perfection. When answering questions related to delivering results, youll want to indicate that you work to avoid slipped deadlines and failed goals. If you have missed deadlines and goals in the past, explain the methods youve put in place to avoid this in the future.

Example behavioral questions asked at Amazon: Deliver results

• Tell me about the most challenging project you ever worked on
• Tell me about a time when you had to handle pressure
• Tell me about a time when you had two deadlines at the same time. How did you manage the situation?
• How do you prioritize tasks in your current role?

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Don’t Try To Wing Your Amazon Interview Preparation

I could usually tell if a candidate was trying to wing it, which is a more charitable way of saying they were trying their luck. But, on the other hand, some folks rocked into phone screens with confidence and panache but with little anticipation of what was expected of them and almost no understanding of Amazon.

I’ll break an uncomfortable truth to you. Unless you’ve been lining up competency interviews with other companies before Amazon, the chances of winging it are slim. There are way too many qualified, driven, and well-prepared candidates in the pipeline at any given time for this approach to stand out.

I often get questions from candidates who discover my resources late in the process and ask me what to do if their Amazon interview is scheduled the next day. My advice is always to move the interview by a week and give yourself ample time to prepare, even if this means passing on this particular opportunity. If you were invited to interview for one role, chances are other positions out there that you can compete for at Amazon. But it would be best if you did yourself a favour and did not risk getting a “recycle” straight from your first interview.

Mistake #1 Failing To Add An Introductory Paragraph

I understand that it may seem tempting to follow the PAR structure and just jump right in with an explanation of the problem. However, your answer will be stronger if you take the time to include an introductory paragraph. In an essay this paragraph is called an introduction, but in business writing its whats called the executive summary.

A common mistake that inexperienced writers make is that they bury the lede. Maybe youve heard this phrase before. It means that the writer fails to state up front the most important part of the story. When a writer buries the lede, the reader has to put in more effort to discern the main point of the story. Your introduction is an opportunity to orient the reader . Whats important about your story? Whats the main point?

Lets look at an example. Notice how straightforward and to the point this writer is in the first paragraph:

I recently had to make a very difficult judgement call about whether to release code to production that had not been tested with our typical rigor. I took a shortcut, and to be honest, I hacked together a solution so quickly I surprised even myself. But in my gut, I knew it would fix the problem, so I made the judgement call to deploy the code. My new code worked even though we didnt have time to test it.

This is a short, clear intro. With the introductory paragraph in place, the writer can transition into the PAR structure for the rest of the essay.

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Do Practice Star Responses

STAR stands for Situation, Task, Actions and Results. It is the format of an Amazon Interview response that is highly recommended in a competency interview setting.

Despite the STAR interview response format being around for a while, candidates still struggle with it. Therefore, a good half of my sessions focus on helping folks master this interviewing skill.

Why do candidates find STAR difficult? Because it asks an interviewee to frame an actual life situation into a 5-minute Shakespearean play because it makes a job of an interviewer easier. Candidates find it hard because real situations are messy, often with multiple action threads. When we find ourselves in the middle of a business problem, solutions are usually iterative and call on intuition and structure. At the same time, a STAR response expects you to distil your real life only to the bare essentials while discarding second-grade details.

Mastering the art of compressing real life in 5-minute STAR openers. Here is how I recommend preparing. First, watch real-life interviews on my channel to feel for interview answers that don’t necessarily go well. Second, read the article about STAR Method pitfalls. Third, find interview partners , and get plenty of feedback on your responses.

Prescreen With A Recruiter

Expect a light 15-30 minute call where the recruiter will gauge your interest level and determine if youre a good fit. The recruiter may touch on a few technical aspects. They just want to get an idea of your skills. Typical questions might include your past work experiences, your knowledge of the company/position, salary, and other logistical questions.

Its important to have around 7-10 of your own questions ready to ask the interviewer. Asking questions at an early stage shows investment and interest in the role.

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Prepare For Coding Assessment

Its up to you to come to a coding interview fully prepared for technical assessment. I recommend at least three months of self-study to be successful. This includes choosing a programming language, reviewing the basics, and studying algorithms, data structures, system design, object-oriented programming, OS, and concurrency concepts.

Youll also want to prepare for behavioral interviews.

Its best to find or create an Interview Prep Roadmap to keep yourself on track.

System Design Interview Questions

Amazon builds scalable, reliable, cost-optimal, and performant systems, and system design is an integral aspect of them all. Millions use Amazonâs distributed systems and platforms. Hence, Amazon focuses more on system design questions.

Candidates with at least three or four years of software engineering experience must prepare for system design questions if they want to land a job at Amazon. To nail the Amazon interview preparation for these questions, practice web-based components, such as the design of an online store or a URL shortener.

Read to get an idea of what questions you can expect.

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Interview Process At Amazon

Amazon usually takes a five-step approach to hiring new employees. Were going to break down the process, so you know what to expect when you get approached by a recruiter. Keep in mind that the process may be different depending on which job youre applying for.

Technical positions like engineers or software developers might need to take technical tests to prove their skills at some point in the process, but other candidates might not need to take any assessments.

First, a quick note on how to apply for a job at Amazon: while the company does list open positions on their website, Amazon recruiters tend to prefer reaching out to you through networks like .

You might want to do some digging and connect with recruiters on networking sites when applying for a job with Amazon. Often, people who get hired by Amazon are actually approached by the company first, so make sure youre active on professional sites.

Looking for a job at Amazon? These position are hiring now:

Amazon Interview Questions On Systems Design

Your Amazon interview preparation plan is incomplete without dedicating at least 1-2 weeks to thoroughly cover concepts in distributed systems design.

Following are the important design concepts to cover, followed by some sample systems design interview questions.

• Systems design case studies

Following are some sample Amazon interview questions on distributed systems design:

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Learn The Shortcut For Answering Any Leadership Principle Question Without Knowing Which Principle It’s Asking About

If I ask you a behavioral question that would be typical in an Amazon interview, how will you know what principle Im asking about? If I ask, When have you taken a risk? do you know which principle this question falls under? How quickly did you figure it out?

I want to talk about how to know which principle a question is about because this is a topic my clients ask me about frequently. Many clients make spreadsheets with their stories and map them to the proper principles. I think this is a good thing to do. But what if you do this and still you cant remember the correct principle once youre in the interview?

I used to tell my clients to memorize the most common questions for each principle so that they would immediately know which principle to target in their answers. I still think this holistic approach is the best method in preparing for an interview at Amazon, but it can take a lot of time to become familiar with fourteen principles time that you may not have if your interview is coming fast.

So Ill give you a shortcut: just make sure your answers to whatever principle question – show your excellence or high performance.

Think about the principles as a whole

Use the shortcut instead of panicking

So once again, before the interview ask yourself what the principles as a whole mean. Why do they exist? What are the interviewers really looking for?

How Long Does The Amazon Interview Process Take

The Amazon interview process can take anywhere from three weeks to three months. The timeline depends on various factors such as the level of the position, everyoneâs schedule, etc. This is why itâs important to have a solid Amazon interview preparation strategy in hand that will help you get through the lengthy interview process.

For example, the more senior the position, the longer the process due to the number of interview rounds. Also, it is sometimes challenging to get all hiring managers, VPs, and directors in the same room at the same time to make a decision.

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What Is Amazon Looking For In Candidates

Amazon is one of the top places to work for in 2021. Its mission is becoming âEarthâs most customer-centric company.â Letâs understand what Amazon looks for in a candidate:

• Leadership recruiters at Amazon get to work with some of the best and brightest business leaders. They look for talent that uses data beyond what one would see in KPIs.
• The organization looks for people who follow Amazonâs values, including ownership and bias for action. The candidates must also think big and have a knack for inventing and simplifying.
• Amazon wants candidates who can identify problems and come up with innovative solutions.
• The company loves to see startup experience and diverse interests and backgrounds. They want candidates who have the curiosity and a self-driven desire to build something new.
• Amazon prefers candidates that show creativity and persistence, which are core leadership qualities.
• Amazon is known to hire people with a proven track record of delivering customer value.
• Amazon recruiters want candidates who can inspire a vision for their team.
• To succeed at Amazon, you should be motivated to learn new things and deliver results.

Now that we know what Amazon recruiters look for in candidates and what they expect from software engineers, we can begin our Amazon interview preparation to meet these expectations. Let’s start with a look at the entire Amazon interview process.