Interview Experience - 128 - Amazon | SDE 1 | L4

Summary

📌 Job Role: Software Development Engineer
🔢 Number of Rounds: 5
📜 Offer Status: Offer
📍 Location: Bengaluru
👤 Candidate Name: Not disclosing due to signed NDA

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Interview Process

1. Applied through LinkedIn jobs portal.

2. Received an email from the recruiter for an Online Assessment (OA).

3. Completed OA with 2 coding questions and explanations within 90 minutes.

4. Cleared OA, and interviews were scheduled within 14 days.

5. Completed 4 rounds of interviews.

6. Received an offer about 5 days after the final interview.

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Preparation Guide

• Practiced on LeetCode Preparation List

• Followed Striver's SDE Sheet

• Watched video explanations on Striver’s YouTube channel

• Solved ~80 easy, 100 medium, and 20 hard problems on LeetCode

• For Low-Level Design (LLD) and High-Level Design (HLD), watched Exponent and other related YouTube content

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Interview Rounds

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Round 1: Online Assessment

Duration: 90 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium

Experience

This round consisted of 2 coding questions and their respective explanations. I was expected to write the solution and also explain the approach used for each. Both questions had to be solved within 90 minutes.

• Question 1: K Closest Points to Origin

• Question 2: A backtracking problem involving generating combinations of alternating binary patterns like 101 or 010 from a given binary string. I don’t recall the exact problem, but the core idea involved generating valid patterns using backtracking.

I managed to solve both questions within the given time limit and presented multiple approaches where applicable.

Key Learnings

• Be prepared to solve LeetCode medium-level questions under timed conditions.

• Clear explanation of your thought process and alternate approaches is critical.

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Round 2: Coding

Duration: ~60 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium

Experience

This round was conducted via Amazon Chime and started with a short introduction by the interviewer, who was a senior engineer. He outlined the format: a mix of Leadership Principles (LP) questions and one coding question.

• Leadership Principles Discussion (35 mins):
  Covered my role in past projects, major challenges, decision-making under constraints, and how I handled conflicts. The interviewer asked multiple follow-ups which made this section detailed and dynamic.

• Data Structures Time Complexity Discussion (10 mins):
  I was asked to compare time complexities for basic data structures like arrays, linked lists, trees, and BSTs. I responded with the best-known complexities and justifications.

• Coding Question (15 mins):
  I was asked to implement a Binary Search Tree with methods like insert(), delete(), and search(). Due to limited time (6-7 minutes), I could only explain the structure and my plan. I couldn't finish coding even a single method completely.

The round concluded with a short Q&A where I could ask questions to the interviewer.

Key Learnings

• Amazon interviews focus heavily on LPs. Be ready with real, structured experiences using STAR format.

• Time is very tight for coding questions; practice coding efficiently under pressure.

• Know time/space complexity of all common data structures.

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Round 3: Coding

Duration: ~60 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium

Experience

This interview followed a similar pattern as the previous one.

• Leadership Principles (15-20 mins):
  Continued from previous discussion. Covered different scenarios including ownership, ambiguity, and impact on team goals.

• Coding Question (40 mins):

  • Implement Trie (Prefix Tree)

I implemented the full Trie class with insert, search, and startsWith methods. I also did a dry run of each function and walked the interviewer through the logic and edge cases. The interviewer was satisfied with the clarity and correctness of the solution.

Key Learnings

• Practice implementing complex data structures like Trie from scratch.

• Explaining dry runs and edge cases is as important as the solution itself.

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Round 4: Coding

Duration: ~60 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium

Experience

By this round, I had cleared the earlier interviews and was moving closer to the final evaluation.

• Leadership Principles (20 mins):
  This time, LP questions were deeper. I was asked about times I failed, had to disagree with a team decision, or had to go beyond my assigned tasks.

• Coding Question (40 mins):

  • A variation of Rotting Oranges

I first discussed edge cases and clarified problem statements. Then, I coded the solution and walked through a dry run with examples. We also discussed complexity analysis in detail. The interviewer probed into performance trade-offs and alternative approaches.

Key Learnings

• As rounds progress, LP questions become more nuanced. Have examples prepared from multiple experiences.

• Graph traversal problems like BFS/DFS are a must-practice topic.

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Round 5: LLD

Duration: ~60 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium

Experience

This was the final round and was conducted by a senior leader.

• Coding Question (5-10 mins):
  A relatively easy problem. I explained multiple approaches and quickly coded the optimal solution.

• Low-Level Design & Diagrams (20-25 mins):
  Asked to explain a use case and draw related diagrams. Covered responsibilities of classes, interactions, and scalability.

• Leadership Principles (20-30 mins):
  Questions were trickier and more situational. Topics included handling disagreement with managers, delivering under pressure, and mentoring new teammates.

Key Learnings

• Final rounds often shift toward design and behavioral assessment.

• Be ready with use case diagramming and articulating trade-offs.

• Have examples ready that reflect Amazon’s Leadership Principles in tough situations.

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Final Thoughts

• Amazon places a strong emphasis on Leadership Principles. Each round evaluates both technical and behavioral aspects.

• Be honest, structured, and detailed in your answers. Use the STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result) while answering LP questions.

• Time management is crucial. Even if a problem is easy, you may not get the full time to solve it—so get comfortable solving under time pressure.

• Master the basics of Data Structures and Algorithms—especially implementation-heavy questions like Trie, BST, Graphs.

• For System Design, even at SDE-1 level, expect some LLD or use case discussion.

Good luck to everyone preparing for Amazon or any product-based company. Stay consistent with practice and be ready to talk about your real-world experiences confidently.