I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in Jan 2019
Interview
There is 1 telephonic interview. After clearing I was scheduled for on site loop which has 6 interviews including a lunch. Interviewers included Hiring manager and 1 or 2 people from the team and others were from different team. The technical questions were very easy and they want you to write all code on board, which I did. Each interview will also include leadership principles questions that you need to relate to your previous experience. This is the tricky part and luck involved. The interviewers themselves are not competetitive but they have a set of questions for leadership principles and they write down what you say and what you write on white board like typists. They do communicate that you are doing all good but don't believe that you have cleared that round.
I thought I did well in all interviews and the interviewers themselves were all showing positive signs. I couldn't believe that this would be lost. However, a day later I get an email that they are not gonna make an offer.
I would definitely do not recommend taking interviews with Amazon if you really care for your time.
The interesting part is they do not communicate any feedback of why they would not like me.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Questions about trees during telephonic. Onsite was mostly easy, arrays, and some hashtable related questions. There was one about how to calculate expressions. But rest was all leadership principles.
Tough interview.
The Process: Automated Online Assessment (OA) with 2 coding questions and a system simulation, followed by a 4-round virtual Loop. Every single round started with 20 minutes of intense, behavioral behavioral questions diving into Amazon's Leadership Principles, followed by 25 minutes of technical coding or system design.
Amazon interviews are a test of mental endurance because you have to switch from deep behavioral storytelling straight into complex coding which can be so difficult. I used Apex Interviewer to practice the cognitive context switch. Running through their live-coding workspace helped me ensure my technical communication and architectural structures remained sharp and automatic, even after spending the first half of the interview defending my past project metrics. I fed the practice AI questions I extracted from glassdoor and gothamloop.
In the end, the offer was way lower than I hoped.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Design the backend inventory tracking and placement service for a global fulfillment network, ensuring strict transactional consistency across multiple regional warehouses during peak shopping events.
Initial screening call with recruiter followed by a 1 hr hacker rank question on DSA. The final round was a panel consisting of 4 interviews ranging from technical design, more DSA and behaviour questions.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe a time when you disagreed with your team and how you resolved it
Online Application & Assessment: Candidates apply via amazon.jobs and may be asked to complete online assessments (work simulations or technical tests).
Recruiter Phone Screen: A 30-60 minute interview to discuss your background, interest in the role, and initial behavioral questions.
Technical Phone Screen (For Tech Roles): A 60-minute interview focused on data structures, algorithms, and coding in a shared editor.
Interview Loop (Virtual/Onsite): The final stage, usually 3-5, 45-60 minute interviews held on the same day or over a few days.
Behavioral Questions: These focus on past behavior (STAR method: Situation, Task, Action, Result) mapped to Leadership Principles.
Technical/Functional Questions: Problem-solving, system design, or domain-specific questions.
Bar Raiser Interview: One interviewer is a "Bar Raiser," a neutral employee from another team tasked with ensuring hiring standards remain high.
Hiring Committee/Debrief: Interviewers meet to discuss candidate feedback and make a hiring decision.