First time for me interviewing with one of these big companies but I think it was a fairly common thing. I've been doing mobile and all sorts of other stuff for over a decade. I failed at the first face to face round after passing their initial coding test round so the following might just be me being a bit bitter but in a way I was happy not to have to do 3 more rounds of interviews like the first face to face one I'll describe below. The coding test round was just one of those online here's a coding problem now come up with a solution thingies that all these companies use. Unfortunately for a company that brags about hiring the best and all that the one Amazon has developed is basically terrible. Think of someones idea of rewriting Intellij in JS and giving up when the code completion works to the point that it'll insert random lumps of complete garbage into your input. Having a timed session with the tools fighting against you is incredibly frustrating to say the least. Anyhow the problems there weren't especially difficult. If you pick a language that has a decent standard library like Java does you should have no problem doing most of it with some branching and loops. I would not suggest picking C even if you are Dennis Ritchie incarnate because you wouldn't enough time to implement all the small tools you get for free with the other languages available. The face to face round consisted of a question to make sure you're the right personality fit (Google the Amazon principles, make up an answer that suggests you care for each) and then a whiteboard coding exercise. I think I messed up at this stage because I was basically trying to show to the interviewer that I know about the language, know about how code gets reused and why to do it cleanly in the first place etc when basically the interviewer is looking for a solution and name dropping some data structures. Yes, you should be name dropping data structures. It doesn't matter that you're going to be developing a mobile app and the most complex thing you'll touch is a tree. I was asked what data structure I would use for something and I said I'm using recursion so I'm using a/the stack and I wasn't sure what the guy was getting at as it was pretty obvious to me. Anyhow that messed up my thinking and I didn't fully solve the problem and it was basically over at that point. I think the interviewer was nice enough to humour me by letting me ask him questions about the company etc before ending the interview but I was pretty sure it was already done with. For anyone considering Amazon I would say go for it. It's one of the very few places you could work in Japan without JLPT 1/N1 and earn a decent salary. However I would suggest preparing for the interview process as if you were preparing for a computer science exam and not as if they are actually trying to work out if you can do the job.

I will split this review into 2 sections pertaining to my preparation process and interview process. PREPARATION: First, I prepared by reaching out to my OCM (Office of Career Management) part of my MBA program. They reached out to the alumni that worked in the specific job and connected me with them. This was essential to my process and helped me a lot as it helped me get an inside look of the interviewers thought process before the interview. I then prepared a document to save and answer any interview question that I could find from resources, such as Glass Door, pertaining to typical Amazon behavioral interview questions. I also watched interview related YouTube videos that helped me prepare. Since Amazon is such a large company and hires a lot of people, there are a lot of these videos available. There are a few YouTube channels dedicated to the Amazon hiring process and interview preparation. I then reviewed the leadership principles and familiarized myself with them. I paired behavioral questions with these principles, and related them to my experience via the STAR format. One thing I HIGHLY suggest is practicing your responses, making them fluid and natural as part of a normal conversation. Record yourself, practice in the mirror, etc. Also, do NOT simply write down your responses and read them to the interviewer. This will get you negative points, and possibly cause them to pass on you. INTERVIEW: Total time: 3 HR, 15 Min. 4 interview, 45 min long, 15 min. break after 2nd interview. Amazon is moving towards online interview process. There are not doing as much on-campus interviews or flying candidates out to the location for in-person interviews. My Amazon interview was a total of FOUR interviews. Each of these interviews lasted for 45 minutes. Amazon will try to do all 4 of these interviews within 1 day. Be prepared to commit to the interview date, and be prepared for it to take the better half of the day. Each interviewer was punctual and direct. They gave a quick introduction of themselves, asked for a quick introduction of myself, and then quickly moved into behavioral type questioning. Preparing ahead of time is essential. I HIGHLY recommend the STAR format. Amazon is very results driven. Don't focus on non-essential information. Focus on actions and results. Each interviewer will ask you for more details and challenge you during the interview. Be prepared to be challenged and have those answers ready if possible. 2 of the interviewers I had gave me hypothetical questions to get to know my thought process better and to learn what my managerial style is like. All in all, it was a great experience. If you make it to this round of interview, you will most likely do well. Amazon is selective in their candidates, and seek out very qualified individuals for positions like this. You will more than likely enjoy this interview. My preparation helped me a great deal. Do not take the preparation lightly. Finally, the questions that I included were part of my preparation and found online. They were also asked by the interviewer. Not all of the questions asked are included.