Amazon Interview Experience for SDE-1 (Off-Campus)

I applied for 6 months internship at Amazon in October. I gave Open Access(OA) in November, and in December I got a mail from Amazon that they are considering me for FTE and my interview processes will happen between Jan to April.

Online Assessment: Typical amazon OA with five sections.

Two simple coding questions were asked. Didn’t exactly remember the questions but one was easy and one was of medium difficulty. Both were greedy problems.

Round 1: Two coding questions

1. To find the path between two nodes in a binary tree.
2. To find the number of turns that are required in the above path if we start from one node to another.

I was able to write an optimized code for 1st. For 2nd part, he only discussed the approach as I already took some time in the first part. He seemed satisfied with my approach.

Round 2: Two coding questions along with some behavioral questions.     

1. Min k elements of an array variant. Along with it, he asked what if there is a large chunk of data being passed and at the same time, we want to print the min elements. He said how will you handle that case. He said to think outside DSA. I said it is can be done through semaphore by which either we can print data or find min k elements.
2. Minimum platform required for a station if we are given arrival and departure time.

I was able to solve the first question optimally.

In the second question, I gave him optimal code but he asked for spaced optimized approach in which time complexity can be compromised. I somehow managed to give a solution that was not the same which I later found on GFG but I think my approach was correct and he was satisfied.  

Round 3: Two coding questions along with a discussion on projects.

1. https://takeuforward.org/data-structure/implement-queue-using-stack/
2. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/search-an-element-in-a-sorted-and-pivoted-array/ 

I was not aware of the amortized method of implementing queue. I gave a typical solution which always took linear time. But after some hints from him, I was able to come up with an optimal solution in the first go. I was scared that I required a lot of hints to solve this question but I think he was impressed by the way I approached the question and formed the logic there only unlike already knowing the optimal solution. 

I gave the optimal solution for the second question with some errors here and there which was pointed out by him.    

Verdict: Selected!!

Tips:

• As you can see none of my interview rounds were perfect. So don’t lose your composure and try to build a connection with the interviewer.
• Think out loud so that he/she may help if you are stuck.
• Practice standard DSA and keep revising them.

All the best!!