Amazon interview process – For fresher and experienced

About Amazon

Amazon is an American multinational technology company that focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It is considered one of the Big Four tech companies, along with Google, Apple, and Facebook. As per Amazon official website, Amazon is employing 560,000 people across world with 200,000 employees at US offices.

In this article we will share the insights of Amazon interview process, both for fresher as well for experienced professional.

Glassdoor summary of Amazon interview process for Hyderabad location

Source: Glassdoor

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 (SDE-1)  and CSAin their organization. The following rounds are conducted:

• Written Round
• Online Coding Round
• Multiple Technical Rounds
• Hiring Manager Round
• HR Round

Interview process for SDE(Software Development Engineer) at Amazon

• Following rounds of interview process are followed.
• Online coding test (20 MCQs with negatice marking)
• 2 Coding questions – 1 algorithmic and 1 maths
• 4 rounds of technical interviews. You are asked only on data structure and algorithms. You need to write the code snippet and explain it.

Example questions for technical round:

• Modify a given linked list to create another linked list within given time
• Searching and sorting algorithm based questions
• Difference between BFS and DFS

Interview process for CSA(Cloud Support Associate) fresher at Amazon

• Following interview rounds are followed:
• Online coding test – 65 MCQs. 25 from Aptitude and 40 Technical questions (Operating system, Database, DSA etc).
• 2 coding questions – 1 mathematics and 1 algorithms
• 4 technical rounds – Questions on Operating System, Networking, DBMS, Data Structure
• HR round

70% of rejection happened as applicants were too trendy while attending an interview. Check out Xamnation mock interview online pack.

Example questions for Amazon CSA process

• TCP handshake and TCP end connection(troubleshooting scenario based)
• DNS and ARP(troubleshooting scenario based)
• Explain Quick Sort without writing a single word and how it can be optimized
• Paging concepts in depth in Windows(PAE, PD, PDP)
• DSA questions on functioning of Priority Queues

Amazon interview process for experienced professionals

Source: Amazon Jobs

Online application at Amazon

The first round of applying to Amazon is search relevant job and applies to that. For that you need to go to Amazon Jobs portal, and search relevant jobs by location, business category, job category or keywords. Click apply now for jobs matching your candidature. You will have to register/login for this step. Amazon only accept CV and no cover letter.  Make sure you fill in a brief description of your background, experience (with dates of employment), educational achievements and skills. These are important and if you leave than unfilled, your candidature will be out rightly rejected. You don’t need to attach any kind of samples of your work, but you can give that links in CV.

Your CV will be screened by relevant department/hiring manager. You will be contacted by HR only when hiring manager feel your profile matching the job.

Round 2: Telephonic interview process at Amazon

Once your resume is selected by Amazon hiring manager, you will be contacted by Amazon HR and your telephonic round is set up. You need to make sure you are well thorough with technical as well Amazon culture and values before picking the interview call.

Here is list of leadership values that Amazon follows (list taken from Amazon hiring portal):

• Customer Obsession
• Ownership
• Invent and Simplify
• Are right, A Lot
• Learn and Be Curious
• Hire and Develop the Best
• Insist on the Highest Standards
• Think Big
• Bias for Action
• Frugality
• Earn Trust
• Dive Deep
• Have Backbone, Disagree and Commit
• Deliver Results

During telephone round, there are mainly 2 processes on which you will be judged.

• Behavior round
• Technical round

Important things to remember during phone interview process at Amazon

• For your phone interview, find a quiet and comfortable place with no distractions
• Use a computer with a reliable connection and access to email
• If you’re using a mobile phone, make sure you’re in a place with good signal
• Have a copy of your CV on hand
• Have paper and a pen readily available
• Come prepared with questions that you would like to explore in more detail (e.g. on initiatives/projects, the team culture, the scope of the role)
• If you need clarification on anything or have any additional follow-up questions, reach out to your recruiting point of contact
• You may be asked for virtual interview using Amazon Chime. Download and install latest version beforehand.

You will be notified in 2-3 days on result of telephonic interview.

Personal interview at Amazon

Once you clear your telephonic round, you will be asked to come to Amazon office for personal interview. You will be informed about location via email well in advance.

Important things to note when appearing for personal interview at Amazon

• Arrive early- Atleast 15 minutes before scheduled time
• Carry government issues photo ID card- Driving license, passport etc
• Wear comfortable and casual clothing. It won’t make much difference if you go wearing Tuxedo. Wear what comfort you most.
• What to expect: interviews will be a mixture of questions and discussions concerning your previous experience and the challenges you’ve encountered. Come armed with detailed examples — concise, structured answers are ideal
• You will meet anywhere between 2-7 interviewers depending upon number of rounds. They will likely be a mix of managers, team members, key stakeholders from related teams and a “Bar Raiser” (usually an objective interviewer from another team).
• You are advised to carry copy of your CV, though  Amazon hiring manager will have copy of your CV ready
• On the average, interview will be of 45 mins-1 hour.
• Lunch/Tea/Coffee will be offered.
• All candidates must sign our standard Non-Disclosure Agreement.
• Your technical interview round will include working on whiteboard and on laptop for programming assignment

Types of rounds in personal interview process at Amazon

• Behavior round
• Technical round

You will be informed on final result within 5 business  days.

Behavior interview process at Amazon

Behavior interview round is based on type of questions which ask on past challenges and situations handled during professional environment. These situations are taken from your CV and past roles.

Amazon follows star methodology (mentioned below) in evaluating candidate’ responses.

Sample interview questions for behavior interview process at Amazon

• Questions on situation where candidate is faced with a problem and he/she has to choose solution from various options. How did he handle that situation, keeping all stakeholders together, and convincing them? How did he measured and communicate the result.
• Questions on when candidate made mistake or took risk that failed. How did he manage the situation, what he said to reporting manager and top leadership? How did leadership responded .
• Describe a time when you took the lead on a project
• What did you do when you needed to motivate a group of individuals or encourage collaboration during a particular project?
• Situation when candidate need to leverage data and marketing finding to build a product strategy.

Star methodology in behavior interview process at Amazon

Amazon follow STAR methodology to structurally evaluate all behavior types questions. Here are the key elements in STAR methodology

1. S stand for Specific situation
2. T stand for task
3. A stand for Action
4. R stand for Result

So, based on given situation and a task, what action you took and how did it impacted result. All your questions in behavior round will be evaluated based on this only.

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
• Data Structures
• Algorithms
• Coding
• Object oriented design
• Database
• Distributed computing
• Operating system
• Internet topics
• Machine learning and AI

One important thing is candidate need to be familiar with prominent languages and tool. For example, even if your background is from Php, you can apply to Amazon. You only need to comfortable with Java, Python, C#, C/C++ or Ruby.

Conclusion

Amazon is one of the top companies to work in India, US and other location. Though Amazon interview process is long and difficult, you can well prepare it in advance on technical round and behavior round, to make it smooth sailing. We, at Xamnation are offering various courses on interview preparation for Amazon like Data Structure and Algorithms, Preparation on Behavior interview , Puzzles and CV making. Do check xamnation online courses here.