SDE 1 at Amazon

How it went

What they would tell you

How to prepare

Round by round

1. 1

   Online Assessment90 min

   As part of the OA round, I had 90 minutes to solve two coding problems. But it wasn’t just about solving them, I also had to explain the logic, and break down the time and space complexity for each one separately. Once that was done, I had to take the Amazon Work Style Assessment, which had around 30–40 MCQs. It was more about how you think, work with others, and whether you're a good culture fit for Amazon. Due to Non-Disclosure Agreement, I have not shared the exact DSA question, just similar pattern for reference.

   • Balanced Array
   • Lexicographically largest sub-sequence of the given string
2. 2

   Data Structures and Algorithms( Technical Round 1)60 min

   Interview started with a formal intro from the interviewer (SDE), followed by mine Spoke about my current job role and the project I’m working on (approx. 5 minutes) Answered 2 questions related to Amazon’s Leadership Principles (15–20 minutes discussion) Given a coding problem, explained my approach and wrote clean code in a shared doc (30 minutes)

   • Decode Ways ii
3. 3

   Data Structures and Algorithms( Technical Round 2)60 min

   Started with a few behavioral questions, I was asked to share an incident where I had a disagreement with my team and how I handled it, as well as a situation where I delivered a project under a tight deadline. After that, we moved on to a DSA problem.

   • House Robber
4. 4

   HM & Technical Core 160 min

   Asked about my tech stack. Next, for around 10–15 minutes, I was asked several Leadership Principle questions, where I had to describe real-life scenarios that reflected qualities like Customer Obsession, Ownership, and focusing on long-term goals over short-term wins. The remaining 25–35 minutes were dedicated to Computer Science Fundamentals, covering a wide range of topics like OOPS, Operating Systems, DBMS, and DSA. I was asked 30+ quick conceptual questions.

5. 5

   HM & Technical Core 260 min

   This round was a mix of behavioral questions and a coding challenge. Most of the behavioral questions focused on Customer Obsession and Ownership, which are key Amazon Leadership Principles. I was asked to share examples from my experience where I went above and beyond for customers or took full responsibility for a project’s success. The interviewer really wanted to see how well I align with Amazon’s culture and values. On the coding side, I worked on the Longest Consecutive Sequence problem. I explained my approach clearly, focusing on achieving an efficient O(n) solution using a hash set to track sequences. We also discussed edge cases and the importance of handling them correctly. Overall, the round felt balanced, testing both my leadership mindset and problem-solving skills.

   • Longest Consecutive Sequence

What came up