Amazon Software Engineer Interview Guide

This is the first round of the Amazon Software Engineer interview, which is a 30-minute call with the HR. This will typically be a phone screen with some basic questions about your background and experience.

Sometimes the HR will give you an online assessment related to the Amazon SDE role, which will consist of programming problems and soft skills questions. Following this, the recruiter will advance you to the technical screen.

• Tell me about yourself.
• Why do you want to work here?
• Tell me about your current role.
• What was the biggest conflict you had with a team member?
• What was the biggest challenge in your previous role?

This is the second round which is a 45-minute technical phone screen with a team member. There may also be a general discussion about your experience, the role, and salary expectations. 

You will be tested on the following - 

1. Coding
2. Problem Solving
3. Algorithms and Data Structures
4. Dynamic Programming

• Be prepared to highlight your skills that are relevant to the Amazon Software Engineering role's job description, and will help you stand out in the interview.

Amazon Software Engineering - Coding Interview Questions:

1. Write a code to implement Binary Search in the given array.
2. What is Dijkstra's algorithm? What are its advantages and disadvantages?
3. Find a given element in a linked list.
4. Given a string containing digits, generate valid IP addresses.
5. For a given algorithm, analyze its complexity.
6. Find the second greatest element in the list.

This is the final round for the Amazon Software Engineering role which consists of 4-5 interviews, out of which 3-4 will be technical interviews and one will be a behavioural interview. 

For the technical interviews, you will be tested on - 

1. Data Structures
2. Debugging Problems
3. System Design
4. Questions related to previous experiences and related technical questions are also asked. 

Note - You can program in the language of your choice when it comes to the Amazon Software Engineering Interview. 

Amazon SDE Interview Questions for the Onsite Round are - 

Sample Coding Questions -

1. What is the window sliding technique?
2. Find the maximum path sum in a binary tree. 
3. Find all the paths from the first cell to the last in a matrix.
4. Given multiple sorted lists, merge them. 
5. Given a list of words, find the three most common words.
6. Write a code to return the postorder traversal of the node values of a binary tree.
7. Write a code to find the best time to sell a stock.
8. Given a list of numbers, convert it into a dictionary, the key being the number and values being their frequency.
9. Print the given linked list in reverse order.
10. What is the difference between a process and a thread?
11. Debug the given code.
12. How will you solve a particular software problem?
13. Find the minimum number of characters that need to be removed to form a pattern in a given string. 

Note - Graphs, trees, arrays, and strings are also commonly asked Amazon coding interview question topics.

Sample Behavioural Questions for Amazon Software Engineering Role - 

1. Describe a situation in which your opinion differed from those of your co-workers during a project. What did you do?
2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
3. Who has been your most difficult customer?
4. Given a work scenario, what things do you consider when you need to make a decision?
5. Describe a project in which you gained many skills. 
6. Tell me about a piece of critical feedback you received.

Sample System Design Questions for Amazon Software Engineering Role - 

1. Design a system to fill a truck optimally.
2. Design a music streaming service such as Amazon Music. 
3. Design a widget showing the customers the last 5 products viewed by them.

Tips for the Amazon Software Engineering Technical Round - 

• In this round, the interviewers generally assess the quality of code. It is recommended that you optimize your working code and focus on minimizing its complexity. 

Tips for the Amazon SDE Interview Behavioural Round -

• For the behavioral round, answer questions using the STARR Framework - Situation, Task, Action, Result, Reflection.
• The 14 leadership principles form the key questions in the Amazon Software Engineer interview. Hence, it's important to have experiences ready that exemplify them. Preparing some scenarios beforehand will help you feel more confident, and you can answer related questions by deriving relevant details from these prepared scenarios.