I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in Oct 2011
Interview
The hiring process was pretty tough. I had to prepare well in data-structures and algorithms to pass the interview. The interview consisted of 3 phone screens and 2 video-conference interview with 6 people (in total). They asked a questions about linked-lists, BST, data-structure design, algorithms and various technical scenarios.
The phone screens took 1 hour each. Usually, they do 2 phone screens and fly-over the candidate for 1:1 interview. But since I was an international candidate they had to arrange for a 3rd phone screen. After all the phone screens they decided it was easier to do a video conference and arranged that in a local Amazon development center. The video conference took 1 hour each and spanned over two days.
After a week or so, I received an email saying I was selected and they would like to extend an offer. I accepted the offer.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Find k largest/smallest number in a series of numbers. What data-structures will you use? Code it on white board.
I applied through a staffing agency. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in May 2026
Interview
There were a total of 2 rounds:
The first round was with an SDE II on Data Structures/Algo - Leet code questions mainly
The second rounds was with an SDM Behavioral/System Design - Leadership principles and past work experience impact.
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Amazon in Feb 2026
Interview
Recruiter explicitly mentioned that the Technical Phone Screen interview did not contain any Behavioral question but the interviewer definitely asked 3 behavioral questions.
The coding problem was utterly garbage, it was a pretty trivial problem that anyone that knows DFS would be able to solve. That is not appropriate for a SDE 2 role. Not even useful to demonstrate candidate skills
PS: They care a lot more about what you've accomplished than whatever you can accomplish based on your skills
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
1. Tell me about a time when you had to meet a tight deadline
2. Tell me about a time when you had to do more than what you were required to do
3. Tell me about a time where you made a significant impact on a customer
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Amazon (Bengaluru) in Sept 2025
Interview
5 rounds of interviews
1. OA (2 Medium Hard Questions along with some Work Related Assessment which tested design related concepts)
2. HLD
3. DSA
4. LLD
5. Bar Raiser
Technically, the questions were of medium difficulty and with good polish, you should be able to solve these questions. The main challenge in Amazon is of the Leadership Principles which involve citing real work experience in the STAR format.
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