I applied in-person. I interviewed at Amazon (Hyderabad) in Mar 2012
Interview
I appeared for the "Amazon Code Ninja" coding competition online at Interviewstreet.com just for fun. I solved 3 out of their given 5 problems and got world ranked 251. They HRs then contacted me via mail after a week asking me if I was interested. Once I gave the go they scheduled for me 2 telephonic interviews. These interviews typically had 3 algorithm questions in each. It was followed by 3 onsite 1 on 1 interviews at their Hyderabad office. In these 3 interviews the level of questions were tougher and you had 1 hour to solve and optimize 2 problems. This was followed by 2 telephonic interviews from Seattle one of which was by my Hiring manager. These rounds were about higher conceptual computer science questions and design questions.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Design the backend system and data structure needed for an online ticket booking system for an intercity bus service.
Surprisingly easy — I expected tougher questions, but the coding round felt more like a warm-up. The main challenge was a DSA problem about counting islands in a 2D grid, which led to a discussion on DFS versus BFS and handling large grids. Funny enough, I had revisited that exact type of question while prepping on PracHub, which made me feel more confident. The interview wrapped up with a behavioral round, and I accepted an offer, but ultimately decided to decline it for another opportunity. Overall, it was a smooth experience.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Number of Islands — given a 2D grid of '1's (land) and '0's (water), count the number of connected islands. Walk through DFS vs BFS, and discuss how to avoid revisiting cells (in-place mutation vs visited set) and what changes if the grid is huge and must stream from disk.
It started with an OA, and then after a few weeks, I got invited to four rounds of interviews: technical and behavioral at 3 of the 4, and behavioral only at one.
Um teste de código online, se aprovado, vai para o loop. O loop é 4 entrevistas seguidas, duas em inglês e duas em português. 3 entrevistas técnicas de código, todas as 4 têm pergunta de liderança.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Pergunta historicas baseada nos principios de lideranca da amazon.
