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Amazon | SDE2 | Berlin, Germany | February 2024 [Reject]

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I had five interviews for the onsite, split into two days, each lasting one hour. On the first day, I had three interviews.

  1. The interview started with Amazon LP questions for about 30 minutes. After that, I was asked a Low-Level Design (LLD) question.
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  2. The second interview was with the Hiring Manager. We spent 40 minutes discussing Amazon Leadership Principles and delving into details of the stories from my CV, focusing on when and where they happened. Following that, I was asked to design a High-Level Design (HLD) for Netflix. Due to time constraints, we had only about 15 minutes, so I was instructed to focus on designing basic components without delving into deeper details.
  3. For the third interview, I spent 30 minutes discussing Amazon LP and solving a DSA problem (https://leetcode.com/problems/two-sum/description/). Specifically, I was asked to solve the 'Two Sum' problem on LeetCode. As a follow-up, I was asked to implement an algorithm that returns the nearest sum less than the target if the target doesn't exist. Then, I was asked to extend the algorithm to handle the 'k sum' problem instead of just the '2 sum' problem.

The last two were held on a different day.

  1. The fourth interview was with the Bar Raiser. We spent 1 hour discussing Amazon LP without any technical questions. I was asked to answer using the STAR method, providing specific numbers and metrics that are crucial to my experiences.
  2. In the fifth interview, I spent 30 minutes discussing Amazon LP and then 30 minutes solving DSA problem. Specifically, I was asked to implement a parking lot system. The problem involved allocating the smallest available slot to a car when it enters and marking the slot as available when the car leaves. The input consisted of requests containing the car number and whether it was entering or leaving.

I was rejected. While I was able to solve all technical problems, it seems that my LP stories may not have been strong enough. Therefore, my recommendation is to prepare for LP questions as diligently as for technical rounds.

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