amazon interview questions

 Preparing for an interview at Amazon involves understanding the company's Leadership Principles and being ready to answer both technical and behavioral questions. Here are some common questions and topics you might encounter:

Behavioral Interview Questions

Amazon places a strong emphasis on its 14 Leadership Principles, so expect questions that assess how your past behavior aligns with these principles. Here are some examples:

1. Customer Obsession:

   • "Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond for a customer."
   • "How do you stay focused on your customers’ needs?"

2. Ownership:

   • "Describe a situation where you took on a project outside your typical responsibilities."
   • "How do you handle a situation when your team fails to meet goals?"

3. Invent and Simplify:

   • "Can you provide an example of a creative solution you developed for a complex problem?"
   • "How do you simplify complex tasks in your work?"

4. Deliver Results:

   • "Tell me about a time you faced a significant obstacle to achieving a goal. How did you handle it?"
   • "Describe a situation where you had to meet a tight deadline."

5. Bias for Action:

   • "Give an example of a decision you made quickly and what the outcome was."
   • "Tell me about a time when you took a calculated risk."

Technical Interview Questions

For technical roles, you will be tested on your problem-solving abilities, coding skills, and technical knowledge relevant to the position. Here are some examples:

1. Software Development:

   • "Explain a complex system you designed. What were the trade-offs you considered?"
   • "Write a function to reverse a linked list."

2. Data Science:

   • "How would you handle missing data in a dataset?"
   • "Explain the difference between supervised and unsupervised learning."

3. Cloud Solutions (AWS):

   • "What is the difference between S3 and EBS?"
   • "How would you set up a secure VPC in AWS?"

System Design Questions

System design interviews evaluate your ability to design scalable and efficient systems. You might be asked to:

1. Design a Scalable Web Application:

   • "Design a URL shortening service like Bit.ly."
   • "How would you design an online bookstore?"

2. Handling Large Scale Data:

   • "Design a data warehouse solution for an e-commerce company."
   • "How would you design a recommendation system for customers?"

Tips for Preparation

1. Understand Amazon’s Leadership Principles: Familiarize yourself with the 14 principles and be prepared to discuss how you’ve exemplified them in your past experiences.
2. Practice STAR Method: Structure your answers using the Situation, Task, Action, Result format to clearly convey your stories.
3. Mock Interviews: Practice with peers or use platforms like LeetCode, HackerRank, or Pramp for coding interviews.
4. Study System Design: Read up on system design principles and practice designing systems.
5. Prepare Questions: Have insightful questions ready to ask your interviewers about the team, role, and company culture.

Resources

• Glassdoor provides insights and reviews from candidates who have interviewed at Amazon.
• LeetCode offers coding problems and solutions that have been asked in Amazon interviews.
• Amazon Jobs has official guidance on what to expect and how to prepare for Amazon interviews.

By thoroughly preparing and understanding Amazon's expectations, you can increase your chances of performing well in their interview process.