While applying for Amazon I was searching/looking for the interview process for Frontend Engineer. To be honest there are not many resources available for guidance. I wanted to know how many rounds would be there, and whether we will have a coding test/assignment round or not. Will it be similar to an SDE interview, will there be questions on Data Structures and algorithms (yes) if so what will be the topics, level of difficulty etc?
Q. How do I get shortlisted for the interview?
A. I was referred by my friend for the Front End Engineer-I role. I sent him my resume he referred me to a couple of jobs after a week or so I got a mail that I have been shortlisted for an interview at Amazon and they wanted to schedule a screening round with me. (A short, crisp, updated resume containing only the relevant details helped me over here)
P.S. — If you want a referral from me, do approach with relevant job ids :p
Q. How and What was the interview process?
A. There were 5 rounds.
First, there was a screening round, then two technical (sometimes there might be three), followed by a Hiring Manager and Bar Raiser round.
For L5+(i.e. FEE/SDE 2+) there will be a system design round as well.
Firstly I had to go through the screening interview round where all of the basic Frontend Tech was discussed including Html, CSS, Javascript, and some logical questions. There was no coding test/assignment round.
Subsequent 4/5 rounds can happen in any order. The first technical interview was mostly focused on FE Technologies as in Html, CSS, Javascript, DOM Manipulation etc. All the rounds were Library/Framework agnostic. I was not asked to code in React/Angular specifically.
Second Technical Round was more focused on Data Structures and Algorithms — the topics on focus were Arrays, Strings, Stacks, Linked lists, Trees and Maps. There were questions related to core javascript concepts as well. Few were output based.
The hiring Manager round was more behavioral and to check team culture fit. The 14 Amazon Leadership Principles are very important for this round. The questions will revolve around these and you will have to answer them with real-life instances that you have already experienced in your projects and internships.
Next was Bar Raiser Round. It can be technical, behavioral or a combination of both. For me, it majorly revolved around Amazon’s 14 LPs. I was asked questions related to my prior experience and projects. Finally, this round ended with a DSA question about Trees. This round is to check that the candidate passes a certain bar set by the engineers and managers and also whether they have the potential of raising the quality bar of a team as a whole.
Three days after the interviews my recruiter reached out to me with the great news that I have been selected. :D
Q How I Prepared?
A. For Javascript I referred to MDN docs, javascript.info, and Akshay Saini’s youtube.
For DSA I referred LeetCode and FreeCodeCamp’s Youtube playlist on DSA with Javascript and GFG.
Tips/Suggestions
While solving the problems think and speak out loud. Always explain your approach to the interviewer. This helps in understanding your thought process which in turn will help the interviewer to assess you better and will also give hints if you get stuck up.
As per my experience, a referral helps increase the chance of shortlisting at Amazon.
Try not to schedule more than 2 interviews in a day.
For Behavioural Rounds, respond according to your real-life experiences by mapping around Amazon’s Leadership Principle.
Maintain a list of the important concepts and topics. Always revise them before giving an interview.
You can reach out to me for further questions/queries on