Amazon WoW Interview Experience for SDE

AmazeWoW is an Amazon development program in India that offers FTE SDE (Full-time Software Development Engineer) and internship opportunities with a focus on attracting top tech talent from engineering schools. In order for the future leadership pipeline of the Amazon technology team to be more diverse, AmazeWoW seeks to create a gender balance at the entry level for SDE roles. (AmazeWiT website, source of the program description)

AmazeWiT was in charge of organizing this event. I applied to this program through AmazeWiT.

This article details my experience interviewing at Amazon and provides some tips that enabled me to succeed in the process. It took roughly 2.5 months to complete the selection procedure.

Stages of Selection Process:

1. Registrations (Around May)
2. Shortlisting(Confirmation for being shortlisted for online assessment for Internship and FTE role )
3. AmazeWoW Webinar series (2-week program)
4. Online Assessment
5. Shortlisting(Confirmation for being shortlisted for Interviews for Internship and FTE role )
6. Interviews
7. Results

AmazeWow Webinars:

The AmazeWoW Webinars are a series of educational lectures that cover where to begin and what to anticipate in a technical interview. The subjects of the webinars for this program were:

1. Coding Introduction
2. Data structure introduction
3. Producing pristine code
4. Advice for acing your online test
5. Fireside Chat with Amazon Women in Tech
6. Training in Interview Techniques

Online Assessment:

An online assessment on the Mettl platform with a duration of one hour and thirty minutes was part of the evaluation process for choosing candidates for interviews. It has 30 multiple-choice questions and 2 questions about programming.

Note that MCQs were based on topics like OOPS, general aptitude questions, and data structures and algorithms. The programming questions ranged from simple to more hard, and an efficient solution was necessary in every case to pass.

Interviews:

The results of each interview phase, which served as an elimination round, were mailed in about 1.5 weeks along with information on the following step if the candidate had been successful. , The interviews were conducted digitally and were of 60 mins duration each.

Round 1:

A medium-complexity tree data structure technical question is followed by an extended technical question.

What adjustments would you make to the algorithm, for example, if the data structure being used were to alter in a certain way? What adjustments would be made to the algorithm if, for instance, a tree node had two parents?

Round 2:

First, a medium-complexity dynamic programming challenge was posed. I responded by first describing the recursive solution, then the memoization technique, and finally the DP solution. A Greedy algorithm problem with medium complexity constituted the second query.

The topics of dynamic programming and greedy algorithms were extensively discussed.

Round 3:

Two questions on the principles of computer science were asked after one technical question on trees of hard complexity.

I was instructed to conduct Database Normalization in the first CS basics question. For the second question, I was given a program and asked to predict if it would reach a deadlock. If so, how can you change the code to prevent this from happening in the future?

Round 4:

In this round, there were two technical inquiries on trees and the greedy algorithm of medium complexity.

2 Behavioral interview questions were also employed; these questions at Amazon are mostly concerned with candidates’ leadership philosophies. (For information on how to get ready for such questions, see the preparation tips below.)

Result: Selected

Interview Preparation Tips:

I’ll go through some preparatory advice that I thought to be helpful and significant in this part.

Interview Process:

To learn how the interview process operates and what kinds of questions and subjects are crucial, study a variety of materials as well as personal experiences.

Technical Questions:

Throughout the process, I periodically drilled different questions from leetcode and GeeksforGeeks. To pass the technical rounds, you should be well-versed in data structures, algorithms, and big O notations (Very Important!).

Make sure to answer the challenging interview questions! Start with the Easy questions for a particular data structure if you are a beginner. Move on to medium and difficult problems once you are at ease with the data structure. (Extremely Important)

Basics of computer science Questions:

You ought to be knowledgeable about the following subjects. (I was questioned specifically on the ideas of DBMS and Operating System)

Behavioral Issues

Understand these concepts and be prepared to discuss how you have demonstrated these qualities in the past if you are faced with behavioral interview questions at Amazon, which are frequently based on their leadership principles (Very Important!). To respond to this kind of inquiry, use the STAR approach (Situation, Task, Action, Result format). This section should be well-prepared because it is crucial.

Experiences with interviews

Reading about other people’s interview experiences can help you uncover questions that have already been asked. Interview practice and answering questions in time-constrained scenarios are also very helpful. In this manner, you would become familiar with the question format and key subjects and develop confidence by resolving them.

Note:

Every issue was given a different approach, and an optimized solution is anticipated. It is imperative that one understands how to determine the algorithm’s time and space complexity. I was instructed to write the code in the language of my choice.

The interviewer will always ask you for a better solution at every level since they expect you to provide an optimized solution to every topic with full implementation. However, don’t be alarmed if you are unable to come up with one; simply ponder aloud because providing any solution is preferable to providing none.

Interview Tips:

1. Start the interview with a broad smile and greetings to mask any fear you may be feeling and to set a positive tone.
2. Always be upfront if you are experiencing any audio or video technical difficulties; the interviewer will understand since this is a virtual interview.
3. Regardless of how difficult or simple a question is, you should always be excited to solve it. You could demonstrate your desire to find solutions in this way.
4. When asked a question, read it aloud and explain to the interviewer what you took away from it.
5. Ask questions and obtain answers. (Extremely Important)
6. Don’t immediately start writing code (interviews are more of a discussion to learn how you think when presented with an issue; therefore, first discuss how you might fix the problem; the interviewer may be satisfied with your solution or may ask you to make it more complex.)
7. Consider aloud. (Extremely Important)
8. When asked a question, come up with a few possible answers. Don’t start with an optimum solution; instead, start with a brute-force approach and work your way up to it.
9. You shouldn’t worry if you get stuck. Interviewers are very helpful and will make an effort to point you in the direction of the best answer.
10. Pay close attention when you are hearing. (Extremely Important)
11. Last but not least, always prepare a few questions for the interviewer to probe into. It demonstrates your enthusiasm for the position and interest in the business.

Overall, I’ve learned a lot from this experience. I appreciate Amazon and AmazeWiT for putting this initiative together. awaiting a fantastic learning experience at Amazon.