My Amazon SDE Interview Experience

Introduction

This year I had the opportunity to interview for a Software Development Engineer (SDE) position at Amazon. The experience was both challenging and enlightening, providing me with valuable insights into the company’s hiring process and culture. In this blog post, I will share my journey through the Amazon SDE interview process, including the preparation, interview rounds, and key takeaways.

How I was approached

In April 2025, I was contacted by a recruiter from Amazon via LinkedIn. They expressed interest in my background and skills, and after a brief conversation, I was invited to a meeting with several new graduates from Spain and Luxembourg. In this meeting, new graduates that made it through Amazon’s hiring process shared their experiences and answered questions about working at Amazon. There were some managers present as well, which made the session even more informative. Following this, we were given a special link to apply for the SDE position.

The Amazon Interview Process

Amazon Interview process typically consists of multiple rounds:

1. Application: The first step is to submit your application through the Amazon jobs portal. Make sure your resume is tailored to highlight relevant experience and skills. You should also state why you want to work at Amazon or how you align with its leadership principles (more on this later).

2. Online Assessment: If your application is shortlisted, you will be invited to take an online assessment. This typically includes coding challenges and may also cover system design questions. It’s essential to practice coding problems on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to prepare for this stage.

   
   

3. Technical Interviews: Successful candidates from the online assessment will be invited to one or more technical interviews, in the case of this role, it was only one interview. These interviews usually focus on data structures, algorithms, and problem-solving skills. Be prepared to write code on a whiteboard or in an online collaborative editor.

   
   

4. Final Interview: The final round often includes behavioral questions based on Amazon’s leadership principles and three technical questions. Be ready to discuss your past experiences and how they demonstrate qualities like customer obsession, ownership, and bias for action.

My Interview Experience

So, after the meeting with new graduates, I applied for the SDE position using the special link provided. We only had a week to apply for the role, so I made sure to submit my application promptly and started preparing for the online assessment in case I was selected. Honestly, I felt a bit nervous since this was pretty much my first time applying for a company role. I was also dealing with my final exams for my master’s degree and working full-time at the same time, so balancing everything was quite challenging.

The first step I did was creating an account on LeetCode, as I had heard that many Amazon interview questions are similar to those found on the platform. I didn’t do any DSA practice since University, so I focused on brushing up on my data structures and algorithms knowledge, getting to know the fundamentals again and solving problems on LeetCode. I was really frustrated at first since I felt quite rusty, and even easy problems seemed difficult. However, I kept practicing consistently, and over time, I started to see improvement.

After a week since I applied, I received an email inviting me to take the online assessment. The assessment consisted of two coding problems that I had to solve within a set time limit. Each problem contains a set of test cases that need to be passed. I cannot share the exact problems due to confidentiality agreements, but they were similar to medium-level problems on LeetCode. I tried to stay calm and solve both the problems without focusing too much on the time complexity. I managed to solve both problems and submitted my solutions. There weren’t the best solutions, as I wasn’t able to complete all the test cases, but I was hopeful that my solutions would be sufficient to move forward in the process.

It wasn’t long before I received an email inviting me to the next round, which was a technical interview with an Amazon Engineer. I was provided with a link so I could choose a suitable date for the interview. There weren’t many slots available, so I had to pick a date while I was on vacation. I kept preparing by practicing more coding problems on LeetCode and reviewing common data structures and algorithms. At the same time, I started to prepare for behavioral questions based on Amazon’s leadership principles, in case they asked me during the interview.

Interlude: Amazon Leadership Principles

Amazon places a strong emphasis on its leadership principles, which are a set of guidelines that define the company’s culture and values. There are 16 leadership principles in total. For example, “Invent and Simplify”, which encourages employees to think creatively and find innovative solutions to problems, or “Customer Obsession”, which emphasizes the importance of putting the customer first in all decision-making processes. Familiarizing yourself with these principles and preparing examples from your past experiences that demonstrate how you embody them can be incredibly beneficial during the interview process. In a behavioral interview, you may be asked to provide specific examples of how you have demonstrated these principles in your previous work or academic experiences. For example, you might be asked to describe a time when you had to “Dive Deep” to solve a complex problem or how you “Earned Trust” from your team members. In the meeting I had, they encouraged us to use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to structure our responses to behavioral questions effectively. For more information, you can check Amazon’s official leadership principles page here.

The Technical Interview

The technical interview with the Amazon Engineer was conducted over a video call using Amazon Chime, and an Amazon coding platform where I could write and run my code. The interviewer started by introducing themselves and explaining the format of the interview. Then I was given a problem where I was asked to explain how I would approach solving it, and then I had to write the code to implement my solution. The problem caught me off guard since it was more complex than the problems I had practiced on LeetCode, specifically involving graphs, which I hadn’t prepared for. However, my interviewer was very understanding and supportive throughout the process, and they encouraged me to think aloud and explain my thought process as I worked through the problem. I took my time to break down the problem into smaller parts and discussed my approach with the interviewer before writing any code. Although I struggled a bit with the implementation, I was able to demonstrate my problem-solving skills and my ability to think critically under pressure. After completing the coding portion, I wasn’t asked any behavioral questions, which was a letdown since it was my strong suit for the interview. The fact that I was preparing for a new grad position and I was working full-time allowed me to develop better answers to behavioral questions, so I was hoping to showcase that as well.

A few days after the interview, I received an email from the recruiter informing me that I didn’t pass the interview. While I was disappointed, I appreciated the opportunity to interview with Amazon and the experience I gained throughout the process. For my first attempt at interviewing for a company role, I felt that I did reasonably well, especially considering the circumstances. The experience taught me valuable lessons about the importance of thorough preparation, especially in areas I was less familiar with, such as graph algorithms. It also highlighted the significance of staying calm and composed during high-pressure situations. I was really thankful for the overall experience, and although I didn’t get the job this time, I felt more confident and better prepared for future interviews. I hope you found my experience helpful, and I encourage anyone preparing for an Amazon SDE interview to focus on both technical skills and behavioral questions related to the leadership principles. Good luck!