My Experience with the SDE2 AWS Onsite (Virtual) Interview at Amazon

I recently had the opportunity to interview for an SDE2 position with AWS at Amazon. The process was conducted virtually and consisted of four rounds, each focusing on different aspects of the role.

Round 1: Leadership Principles (LP) and Coding : Problem solving

The first round kicked off with questions centered around Amazon's Leadership Principles, particularly customer obsession and ownership. Following this, I tackled a coding problem that involved solving package dependencies. This round tested both my problem-solving skills and my alignment with Amazon's core values.

Round 2: Bar Raiser - LP and Coding: Logical and Maintainable code

The second round was the bar raiser, which is known to be particularly challenging. Here, the focus was on the Leadership Principles of learning and being curious, as well as delivering results. The coding challenge was to design a logical and maintainable Amazon Locker System to find available lockers for packages. This round was intense.

Round 3: LP and System Design

In the third round, the Leadership Principles in focus were earning trust and having backbone. I was then given a system design task based on IoT sensors for farmland. This required me to think deeply about scalability, reliability and availability, showing my ability to design complex systems.

Round 4: LP and Coding : Data Structures and Algorithms

The final round delved into deep dive and invent & simplify principles. This was coupled with a coding challenge that tested my knowledge of data structures and algorithms.

Result

After four days, I received the results and, unfortunately, I was not selected for the L5 position. The major feedback indicated that my technical skills were good but my responses to the Leadership Principles were not complex or bar-raising enough. I hope my experience serves as a reminder to others: spend extra time refining your LP stories, in addition to brushing up on technical skills.

Location: Seattle
YOE: 5