I applied online. The process took 7 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon in Mar 2011
Interview
While the Seattle Times says Amazon is hiring a lot of people, I sure didn't see it in the attitudes of my interviewers. My experience consisted of two phone interviews spread out over almost two months from when I first applied.
The first interview consisted of questions about my management experience. Typical questions given to a front line manager (well below my level, but I played along) which included:
* Describe a time you had to fire an employee
* How many employees have you managed at one time?
* How have you helped your employees who have performance issues?
The interview was very one way. I never got a clue about the position, environment or if I might fit in.
The second interview consisted of a number of technical questions about performance and scaling issues present in their massive web server farm. While I have no experience in this, and was very up front about that, the questioning continued. The interviewer let me know that this is the Most Difficult Problem in all of computing history, and only those who are dedicated to solving it could be considered worthy of Amazon. Now I like my devs to have pride in what they do, but this was arrogant and turned me off to the Amazon Culture.
Two weeks after the second interview, I was sent a very brief form letter from the junior recruiter who had been walking me through the interview process.
I applied online. The process took 2 days. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in Jan 2011
Interview
Had 2 phone interviews with amazon for a software development manager position. Second interview was 100% technical. First was half management half technical. Questions weren't especially difficult but my answers may not have been very crisp since I had gotten an awful cold.
It seems that they value technical skills above all else. The interviewers didn't seem particularly happy or enthusiastic. I get the feeling that it's not a particularly pleasant place to work.
The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon in Jan 2011
Interview
Phone interview was scheduled from Amazon.com recruiters after viewing my resume from a Job site. The interview lasted for 1.5 hours. It was a combination of management, best practices and design questions. The interviewer appeared to be entering all my answers in their database. I have never seen such an arrogant, egoistic interviewer in my life. He didn't care to listen to my implemented processes, culture, best practices and was giving sarcastic smiles. One shouldn't ask question if he doesn't care to listen. He told me that he is also manage a different team reporting to the same hiring manager. I would never work with such a colleague and I wonder if this the attitude of their managers then what's the working culture of this company.