I interviewed for a technical engineering manager position at Amazon. Overall, my experience was very positive. The interview was challenging but fair. I won't divulge any specifics, but hopefully this review can give you enough of an impression of the interview experience to decide whether this position would be worth pursuing.
* The interviewers' areas of coverage areas were well divided. I met with folks from various roles, and they split up responsibilities so there was minimal redundancy in what I was asked. I was able to share about experiences in any number of different areas, which felt appropriate (versus some interviews I've been to that either focus entirely on technical, or personnel, aspects). Be prepared to talk about every aspect of your role and background.
* Many questions started off fairly typically with the kind of basic questions that every candidate should be prepared to answer, but I was impressed by the way the interviewers dug into my answers with followup questions. Don't expect to just rattle off some pat answers that you read from a book or website, and don't expect to be able to BS by saying what you think they want to hear; interviewers will drill pretty deeply to get an authentic impression.
* I didn't get the sense that interviewers were looking for a particular "right" answer to any question. Although it's often tempting to just say, "I did/didn't get an offer because I did/didn't give the one answer they were looking for", I moreso got the impression that interviewers were looking for good justification and clarity around my answers. So if you're asked a "What If" or "Would you do A or B" type question, worry less about trying to anticipate the "right" answer, but focus instead on explaining your rationale clearly, bringing up tradeoffs, and applying your previous experience.
* If you're interviewing for a technical management position, you'll be asked some coding and design questions. Amazon is fairly transparent about this expectation. The questions were challenging but not unreasonable. My interviewers were explicit that they weren't expecting me to come up with the most optimal answer or cleanest code, and rather that this was to make sure I had enough technical familiarity to interact with a coding team. It took me a bit to get comfortable on the whiteboard since it's been a while since I've coded, and the experience of coding on a whiteboard is much different / unnatural than coding on a computer so I'd encourage you to practice a bit beforehand.
* Amazon interviewers take copious notes on their laptops while interviewing. This can make parts of the interview seem less interactive. However, one positive aspect is that this naturally creates breaks in the interview flow -- while the interviewer is catching up typing, I get a minute to reflect a bit on my answers and for example in one instance, I caught a bug in my code.
* I was very impressed by the quality, punctuality, and maturity of the interviewers. I talked to folks in various roles and they were all very professional and respectful. I'm aware that Amazon gets tons of candidates, but I never got the sense that I was just being put through an interview mill. My recruiter was also very professional and prompt at responding to my questions, I was put up in a nice hotel, etc.
Overall, I highly encourage you to apply to Amazon if you have strong leadership experience with some amount of technical familiarity. When doing so, there's no need to overly prepare; as long as you're refreshed on basic algorithms and design, and are ready to talk about and defend your experiences, you'll be well prepared.
