Amazon is the biggest online platform in the world and the dream company of many tech professionals across the globe. And that is why, cracking an Amazon interview and getting in is not easy. They will not let you in without undergoing its testing job application process that, at times, can take months. By making the aspirants wait for so long, they only choose people who have the highest intent to work for them.
If you are preparing for a tech interview, check out our interview questions page and salary negotiation ebook to get interview-ready! Also read Amazon Interview Guide and Amazon Interview Questions for specific insights and guidance on Amazon tech interviews.
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In this article, we will focus on Amazon’s onsite interviews to help you with your prep. We’ll cover:
- What Is an Amazon Onsite Interview?
- Amazon Onsite Interview Process
- Amazon Onsite Interview Questions
- Tips on Amazon Onsite Interview
- FAQs on Amazon Onsite Interview
What Is an Amazon Onsite Interview?
Onsite interviews are the final rounds of Amazon interviews. Before the onsite, you have to get through 2-4 screening interviews. These rounds last for 45-60 minutes each and do not happen on the same day. Once you crack all these screening tests, your onsite interview will be scheduled.
Onsite interviews at Amazon are also known as “The Loop.” The higher the seniority of the position that you are applying for, the more people will take your interview. You can at least expect 4-8 people. And, all these interviews take place on a single day. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the onsite interviews had been converted into Chime video interviews. Check with your recruiter to understand the current format.
<h2>Amazon Onsite Interview Process
Like most other big tech companies, the Amazon onsite comprises 3 to 4 (sometimes 5 depending on the position) rounds that test your coding skills. The structure of onsite interviews at Amazon is as follows:
- Rounds 1 and 2: The first two rounds cover data structures and algorithms. You’ll most likely be asked to solve a couple of problems on a Whiteboard.
- Rounds 3 and 4: The next two rounds cover questions around distributed system design. The difficulty of questions asked in system design interviews increases progressively for higher positions.
- Behavioral round: The onsite also includes a round that tests your behavioral attributes. This round is popularly called the Bar Raiser round.
The name the Bar Raiser comes from the fact that the interviewer conducting the last round has the power to veto your application if you fail to meet the bar. In this round, you’ll essentially be assessed on Amazon’s 16 Leadership Principles, and your performance in this round will have a telling impact on the outcome of the onsite interview.
Read Amazon Interview Process Guide 2023 for more information.
Amazon Onsite Interview Questions
Here are a few sample Amazon interview questions to help you with your interview prep.
Amazon Coding Interview Questions:
- Find the missing number in an array
- Find out whether the sum of two integers in equal to a given number
- Merge two sorted Linked Lists
- Get largest element from a big array or file
- Find a triplet a, b, c in such a way so that a2=b2+c2
- K largest elements from a big file or array
- Binary tree traversal questions
- Convert a binary tree to DLL
- Lowest common ancestor in a binary search tree and binary tree
- Implement a stack with push(), pop(), and min() in O(1) time
- Reverse a linked list in groups of size k
- Given two numbers represented by two linked lists, write a function that returns sum list
- Rotate a matrix by 90 degrees.
- Stock span problem
- Find next greater element
Read Amazon Interview Questions for more.
Amazon System Design Questions:
- How would you design a warehouse system for Amazon.com?
- How would you design Amazon.com so it can handle 10x more traffic than today?
- How would you design Amazon.com's database (customers, orders, products, etc.)?
- Design a counters system for online services.
- Design a game of chess.
- Design a parking garage.
- Design an email sender that can send 100,000,000 emails. You have 5 machines. How could you do it efficiently?
- Design a URL shortening service.
- Design a video streaming service.
- Design an online bookstore.
Read Amazon System Design Interview Questions for more.
Amazon Behavioral Interview Questions:
- Why do you want to join Amazon?
- Which principle of Amazon culture excites you?
- How would you handle a crisis at work?
- Tell me about a time that you dealt with an angry customer.
- What do you do when you are given an unfamiliar task?
- If you are given two conflicting priorities from two separate managers, what will be your course of action?
- How do you handle criticism?
- What metrics/tools do you use to drive positive change?
- If a supervisor asked you to do something unsafe that was clearly against the company’s policy, what would you do?
- Tell me about the time when the project you were handling was a success, and how would you translate that success when you work at Amazon.
- Tell me about a time when you were upto halfway through a project and had to pivot quickly due to an unexpected change? How did you handle it?
- If you are not getting along with your colleague due to personal conflicts, how would you not let it affect project work?
Read Amazon Behavioral Interview Questions for more.
Note: Amazon’s major products are customer-centric. Therefore, they want their employees to be customer friendly even if the job is remotely customer-facing. Amazon wants to make sure that you can lead a team as well as you can also handle customers and solve their queries. So they will also ask a few behavioral questions to check whether you are up for the challenge.
Tips for Amazon Onsite Interview
Amazon simply does not want to hire people that are not able to prove their worth to the company. Jeff Bezos, the CEO once said, “I’d rather interview 50 people and not hire anyone than hire the wrong person.”
Here are a few tips to help you prove you worth:
- Practice, don’t memorize. Many candidates go with the approach of memorizing a few interview questions and think that they have prepared for the interview. But, this is not the best approach. There’s a high probability that you’ll face an unseen question during the interview, and you might find yourself grasping at straws. The best way to prepare is to understand the concepts and come up with an approach to solve problems.
- When solving coding problems, the solution you provide must be one with the minimum time and space complexity.
- Listen to the questions carefully and ask clarifying questions.
- Think out loud so the interviewers are able to know your approach to the answer.
- In some cases, the recruiter might inform you the names of your Loop interviewers. You can look up their profiles on LinkedIn and check out what their domain is, and expect questions from that domain.
- Prepare a list of questions that you can ask at the end of the interview. These can be related to the role, the team, or the company. Here are a few examples:
- What do you enjoy the most about working for Amazon?
- How can I help resolve some challenges that Amazon is facing today?
- What will define success in my job position?
- What will be my roles and responsibilities on a typical day, if I am hired?
Ready for Your Amazon Interview?
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FAQs on Amazon Onsite Interview
1. Are Amazon interviews difficult?
According to various surveys of candidates who’ve appeared for the interview, 44% of candidates called the Amazon interview a positive experience. So, yes, Amazon interviews are difficult. Read How Hard Is It to Get a Job at Amazon? to learn more.
2. How long do I have to wait before the onsite interview call, once I am done with my phone screen round?
Typically if you have cleared the screening rounds, you can expect the onsite to be scheduled 2 days after that.
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