Amazon Interview Experience for SDE Intern
Application Process
I applied for the Amazon Software Development Engineer (SDE) intern position offcampus through their Amazon WOW programme. The interview process consisted of 2 rounds:
- Online Assessment (OA)
- Interview Round
Round 1: OA
The first round was an online assessment test consisting of two coding questions of medium and hard difficulty level.The main concepts covered were dynamic programming and graphs, wherein candidates received varied set of questions.
The questions were challenging to me plus I had to take a lot of time in coming up with the best answers, but despite all these, I posted my solutions on time without failing.
Round 2: Interview
Once I passed the online assessment, I was called in for the final interview round, it was a 60-minute interview conducted by two Amazon interviewers.
The interview began with a short greeting from the interviewers and then I introduced myself afterwards to explain what I have done in the past and what interests me most.
During the interview, I was informed I had to answer two programming questions. The first question I was asked involved strings, requiring me to come up with an algorithm that would allow for easy manipulation and processing of any given string.
Initially, I asked some questions to clarify if I had understood the problem statement and then went ahead to explain my thought process after which I suggested a brute-force solution. The interviewers gave me feedback and suggestions, that prompted me to optimize my approach.
I managed to get an optimal solution after a while, but it took me more time than I thought to start executing it. The reason the interviewers could not go ahead with the second question was that they ran out of time.
The interviewers were friendly and supportive all through the procedure. They only provided a nudge when necessary while also asking me informed questions about my ability to solve problems and comprehend what had been discussed about.
Resources and Preparation
Gearing up for programming interviews comes with the necessity of regular practice prompting the need to work on my problem-solving abilities and reminding myself to brush up on relevant topics such as data structures and algorithms for example.
One source I used is Striver SDE Sheet, a detailed list of programming tasks that have been selected especially to carry out an interview.
Verdict: Rejected
A few days later, I received an email informing me that they had decided not to move forward with my application due to the highly competitive nature of the internship and considering my performance as well.
Lessons Learned
Notwithstanding the unfavorable result, I must note how priceless that whole interview was to me. I came across some facets that needed attention – some gears of improving myself about time management while coding and successful communication as I put my reactions in words.