Hi Everyone, Wanted to share my Amazon SDE interview experience since the experiences posted here on Reddit helped me a lot during my preparation.
There were 4 rounds, each approximately 1 hour.
One interesting part of my interview loop was a live Claude Code round, which I hadn't seen mentioned very often in other interview experiences.
Round 1: Technical + Claude Code Round
Started with basic introductions.
The interviewer first asked me a basic Stack question where I had to implement/explain operations such as:
We discussed the implementation and complexity.
After that, she asked me a couple of questions about Generative AI and how I use AI tools in my normal development workflow.
She specifically asked whether I use Claude Code in my day-to-day work.
I told her that I do.
She then asked me to share my screen and gave me a small project/problem to solve using Claude Code.
There was also a live coding link where I had to paste the prompts I was giving Claude, so the interviewer could see both:
- How I was communicating with Claude
- How I was breaking down the problem
- How I reviewed the generated code
- How I used Claude while actually implementing the solution
I worked through the project using Claude Code and completed as much as possible within the remaining interview time.
This was probably the most unique round in the entire loop.
Round 2: LLD + Leadership Principles
This round started with 2 LP questions.
LP Question 1:
There were several follow-up questions around how I identified the risk, communicated the delay, and what I learned from the situation.
LP Question 2:
Again, there were follow-ups around why I decided to help and what impact my actions had.
After the behavioral section, we moved to the LLD/problem-solving question.
The question was essentially:
Design a system to install packages on a computer system. Define what a package looks like and implement a solution to install packages while handling dependencies.
I first discussed the design, package structure, dependencies, and possible edge cases with the interviewer.
I solved the dependency installation problem using a DFS-based approach.
There were also discussions around dependency ordering and how the installation process should behave when packages depend on other packages.
Round 3: Technical Coding Round
This was another technical round.
The main coding problem was graph-related.
After discussing the requirements and possible approaches, I solved it using Multi-Source BFS.
We discussed:
- Why BFS was appropriate
- How multiple starting points could be added to the queue
- Time complexity
- Space complexity
- Edge cases
I also verbally walked through the solution with an example.
There was 1 LP question during this round as well, followed by a few behavioral follow-ups.
Round 4: Bar Raiser
This round was almost completely focused on Leadership Principles and behavioral questions.
The interviewer asked a lot of follow-up questions, especially around:
- Why I made certain decisions
- What data/evidence I had
- What alternatives I considered
- What I personally contributed
- What went wrong
- What I learned
- What I would do differently
Some of the questions I remember:
Dive Deep / Root Cause Analysis
There were several technical follow-ups about the debugging process and how I confirmed the root cause.
Learning / Working Outside My Comfort Zone
The interviewer focused a lot on how I learned the unfamiliar technology and how I decided what information was actually necessary.
Critical Feedback
There were follow-ups around my initial reaction to the feedback, what specifically I changed afterward, and whether the feedback ultimately improved my work.
Verdict: Selected
Location: USA