Amazon India SDE 1 Full Time New Grad Interview Experience
[ EDIT ] :
- I mentioned wrong question for the second interview. Instead of Least Recently Used Cache it was Least Frequently Used Cache which is an extension of the former. Also for the LLD part the problem was to implement LFU using design principles. We were discussing different design pattern that could fit in this case and could help us make an extensible and maintainable cache.
- I received verbal confirmation from recruiter on 18/12/2024 of my selection. Recruiter asked basic questions like notice period and location preference.
- Received offer after a month long wait on 30/01/2025
Hi community,
I just wanted to share my experience for new grad SDE 1 role at Amazon. I have spent a lot of time on reddit scrolling through different interview experience for this role and it has surely helped me a lot. Just wanted to give back to the community. I will share the detailed timeline and steps that were followed.
Background : Tierless college 2024 CSE grad. No company comes to college not even WITCH companies. Working in a Series B startup as a SE. Pay is decent (base pay is slightly less than most big tech), work is more but enjoyable and many things to learn. I have done decent CP (Expert on Codeforces and Guardian on Leetcode) in college, and have a good CP profile.
Current Status : Offer Received🎉
First Communication (08/11/2024)
I received an email from [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) with JD and a link to fill the interest form. I immediately filled out the form.
Second Communication (08/11/2024)
Received the second mail on the same day after few hours with the actual Job link on Amazon Careers page. Filled it out immediately.
Third Communication (09/11/2024)
Received the OA link with all the details related to the assessment. And gave the OA the next day on 10/11/2024. Solved 2 coding problems in around 20 - 25 minutes. And the rest was Amazon Coding Style Assesment.
OA Results (10/11/2024)
Received the email the same day stating that I have cleared the OA and my interviews will be held between 11/11/2024 - 29/11/2024.
First Interview (21/11/2024)
For some time I didn't receive any communication, so I reverted on the mail for OA results on 19/11/2024 starting the fact that I have not received my interview dates. Most probably it was a coincidence but I received my next email on 20/11/2024 stating that my first round will be on 21/11/2024
There were 2 interviewers, introduced themselves and stated pattern of interview. They mentioned that there will be 2 leetcode style questions and some questions related to my experience (LP questions).
First question was a leetcode medium and the second question was a leetcode easy. I was not actively preparing but I had done a lot of problem solving in college so I sailed through this round comfortably. I was taking my time to explain my approach and all the details. Hence not much time was left for experience related questions, they just asked some generic question and the interview ended.
Second Interview (22/11/2024)
Within an hour of my first interview I received an email for the second round. During the second interview same pattern followed. Interviewers introduced themselves and the pattern for the interview. This time it was one leetcode style problem followed with LLD problems. They asked implementation for Least Recently Used Cache. This is a standard leetcode hard problem, but I had never seen it before (Most of my time in college was spent on codeforces, I rarely did leetcode). I was able to arrive a solution, the interviewers were good and it was more of a discussion. This part was wrapped up in around 40 minutes, the last 20 minutes were for LLD.
LLD is the part where I think I could not give my best. I am just 5 months into my current company as a SE, design patterns is something which I am still learning on the go. I had watched some videos some time back so I was able to have a conversation about it with the interviewer but I was not able to confidently state my approaches. I had forgotten what I had studied some time back and did not implement much of it during my job till now. So this part was more of a hit or miss for me. I wasn't really hopefull for the next round after this interview.
Third Interview (13/12/2024)
On 26/11/2024 I received an email that I have cleared Round 2 and my next interview will be held on 28/11/2024. I joined the meeting but the interviewer did not join and I was informed that it will be rescheduled, but I was never told a date. On 10/12/2024 I received and email that my Round 3 will happen on 13/12/2024. And again on 12/12/2024 the timing for the interview was changed keeping the date same. I was anxious at this time because of multiple reschedules.
This was probably a bar raiser round. Interviewer was a Senior manager. A lady with around 12 years of experience. She introduced herself and stated that this will be a behavioural round. Typical Amazon LP round. She asked me to answer those questions and include as much technical details as possible.
I prepared for this round by reading reddit experiences and reading third party articles about Amazon bar raiser rounds. All the questions she asked were questions that I had read before. I already had stories prepared for all these questions. I did not lie on any of them those were my real experiences but to be honest if I hadn't read those questions before I would have fumbled badly, I am not very great at collecting memories and building stories on the fly.
The interview ended early and then we had some chit chat, then the last round finally ended.
This was my whole experience and the first time I was able to give interviews for any big tech. I could never make it past the shortlisting stage in big tech companies. Feel free to share your thoughts on this.
What do you think is going to be the result based on my experience? I am mostly concerned about my second round. Rest of it went fine according to me.