Amazon Interview [PDF]

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Next, dive into our Leadership Principles. We use our Leadership Principles every day, whether we're discussing ideas for new projects or deciding on the best approach to solving a problem. It is just one of the things that makes Amazon peculiar. All candidates are evaluated based on our Leadership Principles. The best way to prepare for your interview is to consider how you’ve applied the Leadership Principles in your previous professional experience. Customer Obsession Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers. Ownership Leaders are owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say “that’s not my job". Invent and Simplify Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify. They are externally aware, look for new ideas from everywhere, and are not limited by “not invented here". As we do new things, we accept that we may be misunderstood for long periods of time. Are right, A Lot Leaders are right a lot. They have strong judgment and good instincts. They seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs. Learn and Be Curious Leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves. They are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them. Hire and Develop the Best Leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion. They recognize exceptional talent, and willingly move them throughout the organization. Leaders develop leaders and take seriously their role in coaching others. We work on behalf of our people to invent mechanisms for development like Career Choice. Insist on the Highest Standards Leaders have relentlessly high standards - many people may think these standards are unreasonably high. Leaders are continually raising the bar and driving their teams to deliver high quality products, services and processes. Leaders ensure that defects do not get sent down the line and that problems are fixed so they stay fixed. Think Big Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Leaders create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results. They think differently and look around corners for ways to serve customers. Bias for Action Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk taking. Frugality Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency and invention. There are no extra points for growing headcount, budget size or fixed expense. Earn Trust Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. They are vocally self-critical, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing. Leaders do not believe their or their team’s body odor smells of perfume. They benchmark themselves and their teams against the best. Dive Deep Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdote differ. No task is beneath them.

Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly. Deliver Results Leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion. Despite setbacks, they rise to the occasion and never settle.

Our interviews are rooted in behavioral-based questions which ask about past situations or challenges you’ve faced and how you handled them, using Leadership Principles to guide the discussion. We avoid brain teasers (e.g., “How many windows are in Manhattan?”) as part of the interview process. We’ve researched this approach and have found that those types of questions are unreliable when it comes to predicting a candidate’s success at Amazon. Here are some examples of behavioral-based questions: 

Tell me about a time when you were faced with a problem that had a number of possible solutions. What was the problem and how did you determine the course of action? What was the outcome of that choice?  When did you take a risk, make a mistake, or fail? How did you respond, and how did you grow from that experience?  Describe a time you took the lead on a project.  What did you do when you needed to motivate a group of individuals or promote collaboration on a particular project?  How have you leveraged data to develop a strategy? Keep in mind, Amazon is a data-driven company. When you answer questions, your focus should be on the question asked, ensure your answer is well-structured and provide examples using metrics or data if applicable. Reference recent situations whenever possible.

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Some teams at Amazon incorporate role-specific exercises or online assessments into the interview process. You will be notified if the role you’re interviewing for requires one of these. During your phone interview, be in a quiet and comfortable place with no distractions. Have a computer with a reliable connection and access to email. If you're using a mobile phone, ensure you are in a place with proper coverage. Have a copy of your resume on hand. Have paper and pen readily available. Come prepared with questions that you would like to explore in more detail (e.g. initiatives/projects, team culture, scope of role). If you need clarity on anything, or have any additional follow-up questions, reach out to your recruiting point of contact. If you need an accommodation, or have questions or concerns, please reach out, as we ensure reasonable accommodations for all individuals. Virtual interviews: If you've been asked to do a virtual interview, you will likely need to download Amazon Chime, our tool for video conferencing (step-by-step guide can be found here). If you're presenting, you will need to download Chime to your desktop. The meeting ID# will be emailed to you by your recruiting point of contact. For optimal sound quality, use a headset with a microphone.

DATABASE Most of the software that we write is backed by a data store. Many of the challenges tech people face arise when figuring out how to most efficiently retrieve and store data for future use. Amazon has been at the forefront of the non-relational DB movement. We have made Amazon Web Services such as DynamoDB available to the developer community so that they can easily leverage the benefits of nonrelational databases. While we don't expect any particular level of expertise with non-relational databases, you should be familiar with broad database concepts and their applications. The more you know about tradeoffs between relational and non-relational databases, the better prepared you will be. DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING Systems at Amazon have to work under very strict tolerances at a high load. While we have some internal tools that help us with scaling, it’s important to have an understanding of a few basic distributed computing concepts. Understanding topics such as service-oriented architectures, mapreduce, distributed caching, load balancing, and others, will help you formulate answers to some of the more complicated distributed architecture questions you might encounter. INTERNET TOPICS We expect our engineers to be familiar with the fundamentals of how the internet works. Brush up on how browsers function at a high level, from DNS lookups and TCP/IP, to socket connections. Having a solid understanding of the fundamentals of how the worldwide web works is a requirement.

GENERAL MACHINE LEARNING Expect to be asked about data-driven modeling, train/test protocols, error analysis, and statistical significance. For example, given a problem definition, you should be able to formulate it as a machine learning problem and propose a solution, including ideas for data sources, annotation, modeling approaches, and potential pitfalls. Understand the basic AI/ML methods and algorithms – revisit your favorite ML and AI textbooks.