Author
Utkarsh Sahu
Director, Category Management @ Interview Kickstart || IIM Bangalore || NITW.
Mastering how to answer Amazon SDE and Senior SDE interview questions by sharpening your core problem-solving abilities is essential to securing a desirable offer. Amazon SDE interview questions typically revolve around algorithms, data structures, and system design, putting your coding and engineering design skills to the test.
As such, software development engineers (SDE) are an indispensable part of IT companies. Their role is extremely crucial, so FAANG+ companies conduct extensive interviews to hire only the best. To increase the probability of landing a job with a FAANG company, you must get yourself acquainted with the entire interview process.
So, if you are aspiring to be the next Amazon Software Development Engineer or are looking for Amazon Software Development Engineer Interview Prep Guide, we are here to help you.
In this article, we will cover the Amazon Software Development Engineer interview process and rounds and the kind of questions asked during the interview. This article will help you prepare better for the Amazon SDE interview questions.
Amazon is acclaimed for its customer-centric goals and providing services across various sectors like E-commerce, digital streaming, Cloud computing, and AI. The widespread solutions offered by the company provide the employees with a plethora of opportunities for innovation and growth. Amazon’s work approach is based on four principles: make smart decisions, be nimble, innovate and focus on customer satisfaction.
Software Development Engineers are the drivers of technological innovations at Amazon. Their main responsibility is to build, invent and sometimes convert outdated practices into simpler and faster solutions.
SDEs at Amazon build scalable solutions to complex problems and leave an impact on millions of lives. At Amazon, Software Development Engineers are passionate, skilled, and open to exciting challenges. The Amazon SDE interview questions are designed to test these very skills of a candidate.
There are six main job designations available for Software Development Engineers at Amazon. These designations are allotted under different levels within the company’s compensation hierarchy. The job titles and their levels are:
The entire Amazon Software Development Engineer Interview process takes about four to eight weeks to complete, and the timeline is as follows:
The Amazon software development engineer interview process is lengthy and exhaustive. Here’s what you can expect:
The preliminary step of the Amazon HR interview is focused on understanding your interests and why you would be a good fit for the company. Once the recruiter is satisfied with your answers, you would be given an online assessment to solve, or a technical screening would be scheduled based on the profile you have applied for.
This online assessment is usually a part of the Amazon hiring process for interns and fresher candidates. Sometimes, it is also included for experienced candidates. The assessment has three sections:
During this round of Amazon technical phone screening, you will be asked a set of technical and behavioral questions. The entire session goes on for 45-60 mins, and the recruiter is mostly your potential manager. During this round, be sure to express your understanding of Amazon’s leadership principles.
Take a look at some of the Amazon phone interview questions here.
This is the most elaborate interview round that consists of 4-6 rounds of 60 mins each. Some of the Amazon SDE interview questions asked during these rounds will assess your coding knowledge. In contrast, others will evaluate your system design skills, and one topic common to all the interviews will be behavioral questions.
Lastly, an interview round called the “bar raiser,†is conducted by experts to see that you are better or at least as good for each competency they test as an average Amazon SDE. The Amazon SDE interview questions asked in this round are tough to crack!
Read Amazon Interview Process Guide 2021 for more information.
As from the previous two subsections, you might have understood the intricacy of the entire Amazon interview process. So, we have broken down the entire Amazon Software Development Engineer interview questions asked and the process into three major components to help you plan your prep.
Amazon has a large consumer base, so they are always looking for software development engineers who can design scalable systems. The commonly asked Amazon SDE interview questions in a system design round are:
Prep Tips: Simple ways to ace the Amazon system design interview questions are: reading books like “Designing Data-Intensive Applications†by Martin Kleppmann, brushing up on fundamental concepts, and practicing mock interviews.
For more details on amazon system design interview questions and tips for preparation, refer to our guide on Amazon System Design Interview.
Coding forms an integral part of any technical interview, be it for a software developer, software engineer, or technical lead role. One of the frequently asked Amazon software development engineer interview questions is based on coding. The examples of such questions asked are:
Prep Tips: The best way to clear the Amazon coding questions asked during the online assessment or in an on-site interview is to at least dedicate three months of self-study. During this period, you should review your basics; study the concepts of algorithms, system designs, OS, and concurrency.
Amazon strongly believes in its 16 leadership principles, so behavioral questions are a part of every round of interviews. In comparison to other FAANG companies, the answers to behavioral questions are much more important in the Amazon Software Development Interview. The common behavioral questions asked are:
Prep Tips: If you wish to know how to tackle Amazon SDE behavioral questions and prepare for them, you can check out Amazon Behavioral Interview Questions.
The only way to crack Amazon SDE interview questions is to have a strategic plan and stick to it. Here are some tips to help you along the way:
Check out Amazon Software Development Engineer Interview Preparation for more.Â
If you’re looking for guidance and help with getting your prep started, Fast-track your interview prep Interview Kickstart’s Tech interview course where you will get to learn key concepts around topics like data structures & algorithms, system design, and domain-specific topics.
As pioneers in the field of technical interview prep, we have trained thousands of software engineers to crack the toughest coding interviews and land jobs at their dream companies, such as Google, Facebook, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, and more!
Amazon SDE interview questions on coding are based on arrays, linked lists, trees, graphs, strings, greedy algorithms, recursion, and dynamic programming.
The best way to answer Amazon software engineer interview questions is by improving your problem-solving and analytical capabilities. This is best done by classifying problems based on inherent patterns and applying existing patterns to solve new problems at the interview.
Systems design questions are an important part of the On-site interview at Amazon. Recruiters usually ask you 2-3 questions on systems design. Questions can be theoretical and practical-based involving designing an arbitrary system.
The On-site interview usually has one or two rounds in distributed systems design. The number of rounds typically increases if you apply to senior SDE positions.
Some noteworthy tips to ace the Microsoft SDE interview include: i) practicing mocks ii) practicing responses to behavioral questions, iii) improving your problem-solving skills to power patterns, iv) spending at least 8 weeks prepping for your interview, and v) learning from industry experts.
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