I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Detroit, MI) in May 2020
Interview
Phone interview that went quite well. The interviewer was a senior person in the hiring group. I had read his publications and was quite impressed with his accomplishments. The focus of the jobs was more towards statistics. My focus is on machine learning so it was not an shoe-in.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell us about a time where you hand to handle a difficult situation
Looking back, I'm relieved I declined the offer, despite the intense experience. The interview process felt overwhelming, starting with some tough core ML concepts before diving into the LLM fundamentals. During the technical round, I recognized a tokenization question from a PracHub session I had done just a week before. It felt like a small win in an otherwise challenging interview. Ultimately, the pressure and expectations were high, but I felt it wasn't the right fit for me.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
LLM fundamentals: tokenization design and KL-regularized SFT
There are three rounds in total. The process begins with a coding round, followed by the main interview loop, where you will meet the team and discuss technical skills, experience, and fit.
First round is fun, second round, which is also the final round involved 5 sessions, with different focus. For some sessions, not be able to present my story completely, time was tight, and interviewers were rushing.