I applied online. I interviewed at Amazon (Cape Town)
Interview
Long process.. they generally do a 3 phase process:
Phase1 starts with a telephone technical screen on basic 2nd year computer science questions.
Phase2 is sold as an HR interview which is more of a discussion on experience and workplace behavioural assessment but if they do not actually want to hire you, in Cpt they basically ask you the questions you struggled with in Phase1 and expand on it. You will notice on review that this sneaky way of weeding people out is done selectively.
Phase3 is onsite / i did not do this.
Overall I was not impressed with the misdirection as I prepare for interviews.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What is the Big O notation of various algorithms, explain how various tree structures work and the efficiency there of e.g. AVL, red black trees, explain sorting methods and why or when to use each, explain how you would troubleshoot a problem where the internet is not working, explain dis/advantages of recursive solutions vs threads and the limitations there of, explain how your internet query is handled from your browser all the way to the host .. how does this differ with CDM networks.
total 5 rounds - First OA assessment, quick telephone interview with recruiter, followed by 4 back to back technical and behavioral rounds. In technical round question were around topological graph sorting, cycle detection in linked list, and LRU cache. In behavioral round, the question were based on their 16 principles.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How do you manage the disagreement at your workplace.
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Amazon
Interview
The process started with a brief 30-minute phone screening with a recruiter, focusing on my background and resume.
After that, I was invite to a technical video interview with a senior engineer. This round lasted about 60 minutes, starting with a brief introduction, followed by a live coding challenge on a shared editor, and ended with a few questions about system design basics and my past projects.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Implement a function to find the first non-repeating character in a string and discuss its time and space complexity.
During the coding round, I was thrown a problem on edit distance that felt eerily familiar. Mid-way through, I realized it was the same question I had practiced on PracHub just a few days earlier. The interview included a system design question about the Amazon Locker service, which required me to think through various components and customer flows. The final round involved behavioral questions that focused on leadership principles. Overall, the process was challenging but fair, and I was thrilled to receive an offer that I happily accepted.
Interview questions [3]
Question 1
Compute the edit distance between two strings and walk through the DP table and optimizations.
Software Engineer applicants have rated the interview process at Amazon with 3.3 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 48% positive. To compare, the company-average is 57.5% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Software Engineer roles take an average of 24 days to get hired, when considering 3,658 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Amazon overall takes an average of 28 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Amazon as a Software Engineer according to 3,658 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 30%
One on one interview: 18%
Skills test: 17%
Presentation: 10%
Personality test: 7%
Group panel interview: 6%
IQ intelligence test: 5%
Background check: 4%
Other: 2%
Drug test: 2%
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