I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon in Jan 2021
Interview
Step 1: I had applied for 3 Operations Analyst role in AWS located in SF bay area in early December 2020. Separately a recruiter had reached out to me on Linkedin and I told her about the positions I had applied for. She reviewed my resume and sent me pre-screening questionnaire.
Step 2: Once completed, I received an automated email to provide timings for phone interview. Within a day or two, I received the confirmation along with several interview prep resources.
Step 3: The recruiter was kind enough to have a prep call before the actual interview. We talked about STAR methodology, Leadership Principles, Compensation details, Job role, Skills, etc.
Step 4: Phone Interview happened in Mid January with a BA who works indirectly with the hiring team. The interviewer seemed to be not very friendly but I tried to just focus on answering the questions that were asked.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
- Team, Role and Responsibilities walkthrough (5 min)
- Tell me about yourself (5 min) - I talked about my specializations, success story, strengths and what I am looking for in the next role.
- 5-6 easy/medium level SQL questions on Live Code (based on Aggregate functions, JOINs, Windows Functions - Rank, Dense Rank (15-20 min) - Questions were based on two tables that had team, product and revenue data - I was able to write queries for all of them
- 3-4 Behavioral Questions with follow up questions on
improvements and impact (15-20 min) - It's very important to follow STAR methodology while answering the question. I kept missing on pointing out the result/impact from the situation/task and used 'we' instead of 'I' when talking about the tasks I have worked on which is very important for the company as they want to see if you took ownership (is a leader) or not.
- Questions from candidate (5 min) - Asked them about the team, what does day to day look like.
Amazon is the place that would tell you what kind of questions they might ask so just do your preparation and don’t be nervous. The hr is very kind and responsive.
I applied online. The process took 5 days. I interviewed at Amazon (Singapur) in Mar 2019
Interview
Only had a phone interview with the interviewer from Australia. This is for AWS just to be clear.
Phone interview started as usual to ask about my work experience, follow by what I understand about the role.
Subsequently asked me some questions on techniques that I will use for their business.
Perhaps is a difference in industry and business model but the interviewer was looking for an exact fit to AWS problems or methods when it comes to the techniques needed to be used. Since I am unfamiliar with AWS inner works as I do not have any insider info, I was gunned down quickly and insulted by the interviewer.
I lost interest right after the first couple of questions and decided to just end the call. No point working for close minded employers as I do come from well known companies who are open to fresh, new insights, methods and techniques. Seems like AWS is only obsessed with their own "Methods"
The interviewer thought A/B variant testing is a data modelling technique.....Utter disappointment.
Interview questions [4]
Question 1
Based on your understanding of AWS subscription mode, how will you go about doing a forecast projection?