Amazon Dublin Frontend Engineer (New Grad) – Rejected After Phone Screen
Wanted to share my interview experience so it helps others in the process.
Timeline:
Applied for SDE-1 (India AUTA) for multiple Roles/Job IDs on June 25 → Got 2 OAs.
Applied for Frontend Engineer Dublin on July 23 → Directly got Phone Screen (probably skipped OA because of previous interest form).
Total Rounds:
Round 0: Resume Shortlisting
Round 1: Online Assessments (OA)
Round 2: Phone Screen
OA 1 (India SDE-1):
Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Topics: DSA-heavy — I can’t share exact Qs, but expect standard high-quality Amazon-style problems.
Time: Almost took 50+ minutes.
OA 2:
Difficulty: Medium
Topics: Arrays, Sliding Window, HashMaps — time-sensitive, edge-case heavy.
Time: Was able to complete in 13 minutes.
Phone Screen (Dublin FEE):
DSA Problem: Focused on Binary Search + Prefix Sum, with optimal solution via Segment Tree. I gave a brute-force O(N) first, then tried optimizing (Binary Search in O(log N)) — implemented ~50%. Couldn’t finish fully due to time constraints.
LPs (Leadership Principles): Took 40+ minutes. Very important. Interviewer asked to structure responses using STAR and go deep into past experiences.
No frontend questions.
Outcome: Rejected.
My Reflection:
LP part went well. Interviewer was supportive.
I struggled a bit with DSA optimization under time pressure.
Was my first serious interview at this level — learned a ton.
📌 Will keep applying. This process gave me clarity on what to improve next.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
DSA Problem: Focused on Binary Search + Prefix Sum, with optimal solution via Segment Tree. I gave a brute-force O(N) first, then tried optimizing (Binary Search in O(log N)) — implemented ~50%. Couldn’t finish fully due to time constraints.
LPs (Leadership Principles): Took 40+ minutes. Very important. Interviewer asked to structure responses using STAR and go deep into past experiences.
I received an Online Assessment (OA) invitation from Amazon. The assessment consisted of two coding questions of medium to hard difficulty, focusing on data structures, algorithms, and problem-solving skills. The questions required efficient solutions with optimized time and space complexity. After the OA, shortlisted candidates typically proceed to one or more technical interview rounds covering coding, system design, and behavioral questions based on Amazon's Leadership Principles.
Applied online via career site, received OA link within 2 days and cleared it, Round 1- DSA, Round-2 DSA, Round 3- System Design, Round 4- Mixed Technical Discussion and Behavioral.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Number of Islands (LC 200 - Medium): You are heavily advised to know how to traverse connected components using a 2D grid.
Interview involved one screening OA and one final day, 3 back to back interviews, one technical, one behavioral and one mix. Focused on leader ship principles and DSA and algo
