I applied online. I interviewed at Amazon (Herndon, VA) in May 2017
Interview
I submitted my resume online and was eventually contacted by an Amazon Web Services recruiter. I went through 2 phone interviews, each an hour long, then had to write a 6 page, 10-pt single-spaced paper with executive summary based off a prompt they gave me about the needs of a potential client. I had 7 days to research and write it. This was probably the most difficult part of the interview because the guidance on what they are actually looking for is minimal. I researched several of AWS' 70+ features and chose a handful to write about, hoping they were the right applications for the prompt. After I made it through that round, I had 6 hours of in-person interviews on site in Herndon, VA. A week before my interviews they scheduled a 30 minute phone call with another AWS recruiter who basically coached me on how to be successful in the interview; what they're looking for, how to prepare, etc. That helped me a lot when getting ready. Each interview was one-on-one in a small 'interview room' and 45 minutes long. Generally these interviews were not very warm. You are not left alone the entire day; they don't want you wandering off in the building so you always have a chaperone and interviewers don't leave until the next one arrives. 3 of my 5 interviews were given by remote employees and were supposed to be over video chat but the chat didn't work for any of them so we had to resort to over the phone, and I don't know how that may have affected the interview process since they couldn't read body language and we couldn't talk face to face. Lunch was provided and you ate with an employee who was not interviewing you, so it's nice they don't interview you over lunch. Every person who interviewed me worked in some capacity on the team I would be working on, except one and I am assuming he was the 'bar raiser' because he really pushed me. and his interview was the hardest All questions asked at every interview stage were 'tell me about a time when' or 'give me an example of'- type scenario questions, and then they would ask further in-depth questions about the scenario I described, so you can't really BS your way through. You have to really know and remember details about the experience you are describing because they are going to grill you on it to gauge how you respond to different events. They want to know what you already HAVE done, so come prepared with really good examples you want to share and how they fit with the job description AND the Leadership Principles. The AWS recruiter told me that it's ok to only have a handful of stories and reuse them in different interviews as long as you can apply them to various Leadership Principles (but bear in mind everyone who interviews you does get together after to score you so they'll know all the example scenarios you used). Every question throughout all levels of interviewing were based on the Principles. I studied for my in-person interviews like I would a test, reviewing the Principles and coming up with examples from my work history that exemplified them. Although they told me I would hear either way within a week, I did not hear from them for 3 weeks which I found unusual and kind of unprofessional. I finally emailed the recruiter and asked for confirmation, at which point they finally confirmed I had not gotten the job.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time you disagreed with a co-worker on a project and lost.
I applied online. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in Nov 2015
Interview
Full day interview. Several people in the morning one hour each, went for hour lunch on the company and that was an interview too, then several more one hour interviews.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Questions like, "Tell me about a time when you changed a policy" or "Describe a time when you championed a cause" and similar nonsense. Seemed more like middle management type questions not questions applicable to the position or my technical qualifications.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in Feb 2013
Interview
It was terrifying. Maybe because no one looked happy. There was evidence of money everywhere but no one seemed glad to be there. I was ushered from one tiny room to the next where people asked questions in forceful tones. I was so surprised I didn't know how to respond (even if I did have the answer). I could tell that it wouldn't be a good place to continue my career.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
I was asked questions about values, my work style, and technical aspects of my work. I was also asked programming questions and to whiteboard.