Got the offerSDE 1 at Amazon
- Difficulty
- Process took
- 1-2 Weeks
- Rounds
- 5
- Format
- Remote
- Applied via
- Referral
How it went
- Amazon interviews are less about “knowing everything” and more about thinking clearly under pressure.
- Focus on expressing your thought process, handling corner cases, and communicating trade-offs.
- For behavioral questions, don't fake it, even small stories from your current job can show maturity and ownership.
What they would tell you
- Amazon interviews are less about “knowing everything” and more about thinking clearly under pressure.
- Focus on expressing your thought process, handling corner cases, and communicating trade-offs.
- For behavioral questions, don't fake it, even small stories from your current job can show maturity and ownership.
How to prepare
- Start by building a solid foundation in DSA, especially Dynamic Programming, Greedy, and Hashing, most of your coding rounds were pattern-based problems with a twist.
- Instead of grinding hundreds of problems, master patterns and understand the reasoning behind time/space complexity, because Amazon expects you to explain your logic, not just write code.
Round by round
- 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.
- 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)
- 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.
- 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
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.
What came up
A candidate-reported account, lightly edited. Interview processes change by team and date.