I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon Lab126 (Cupertino, CA) in Mar 2013
Interview
I saw that Amazon had Technical Program Manager jobs available in San Francisco so I applied via the careers section on their website. I didn't hear anything for two months so I figured that they had passed on me. I then saw another posting, this time in Cupertino, so I tried again. Within a couple of days I was contacted by one of their recruiters. I've got a fair bit of experience so he quizzed me about my suitability for a more senior position that he is trying to fill. Unfortunately I didn't meet their criteria of having 50 people reporting to me within the past three years. It's interesting how short a time frame they use to decide if someone has the experience they need.
The recruiter suggested that my experience was appropriate for a Senior Technical Program Manager position so I have been interviewing for that job. I've had two phone interviews so far, one with a Senior Technical Program Manager and the second from an Engineering Manager.
The questions that they use for interviewing Technical Program Managers are a mix of project management and technical questions.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
When have you mentored someone, describe the experience?
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon Lab126 (Sunnyvale, CA) in Nov 2017
Interview
Applied by internal referral and the process took around 1+ month.
3 phone interviews w hiring manager and team member followed by an onsite interview,
Overall positive experience and the interviewer list was given on the day after arrival at the lobby.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Mostly behavioral questions around past experiences and product lifecycle management. How you would handle a situation
Had a initial phone screening and then a phone interview. They set the date and reset it many times before finally a date was set. Even the interviewer was changed. Was not sure even if the group who were interested got changed.
Interview was ok but never felt the interviewer was enthusiastic enough..
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Nothing... all questions seemed appropriate for the role
I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Amazon Lab126 (Seattle, WA) in Dec 2016
Interview
Applied online many months ago. Recruiter called to setup phone screening which was followed by another phone screening by an engineering manager. Once that was passed, I went to Seattle for onsite interview, which was by far the worst experience.
Amazon recruiters were super nice until you go for onsite. After that, they will leave you hanging with no feedback. It has been two months since I attended onsite. So far, HR and recruiters did not even bother to tell me the results inspiteof couple of emails and phone calls asking for the updates. "Lack of courtesy" should be added as another core value of Amazon.
Onsite interview itself was very intense. I strongly believe that most of the interviewers have no clue in what they are looking for. To add more spice to the process, none of the interviewers was a hiring manager. The questions kept coming as if their only job is to ask questions, not to listen. One of the interviewers told me that he had only one year experience as program manager. He has no clue of program management, he was asking random meaningless questions.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Every interviewer will ask standard boiler plate question -- If you have specific type of scenario, how do you handle it? For example, if you have difficult project that missed deadline, how do you handle it. If one person asks these kind of questions, that's okay. Five people, one after other, asked similar kind of hypothetical questions, non-stop.
Senior Technical Program Manager applicants have rated the interview process at Amazon Lab126 with 3.6 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 60% positive. To compare, the company-average is 46.1% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Senior Technical Program Manager roles take an average of 29 days to get hired, when considering 5 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Amazon Lab126 overall takes an average of 22 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Amazon Lab126 as a Senior Technical Program Manager according to 5 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 38%
Skills test: 15%
Group panel interview: 15%
Background check: 15%
Personality test: 8%
One on one interview: 8%
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