Surprisingly easy — I expected tougher questions, but the coding round felt more like a warm-up. The main challenge was a DSA problem about counting islands in a 2D grid, which led to a discussion on DFS versus BFS and handling large grids. Funny enough, I had revisited that exact type of question while prepping on PracHub, which made me feel more confident. The interview wrapped up with a behavioral round, and I accepted an offer, but ultimately decided to decline it for another opportunity. Overall, it was a smooth experience.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Number of Islands — given a 2D grid of '1's (land) and '0's (water), count the number of connected islands. Walk through DFS vs BFS, and discuss how to avoid revisiting cells (in-place mutation vs visited set) and what changes if the grid is huge and must stream from disk.
I applied through university. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Amazon (New Delhi) in Jan 2009
Interview
This was a campus hiring process. First there was a written test, comprising of a few language based questions (C++), a few algorithmic questions, one database question and one design question. The next phase involved four face-to-face interviews.
The first one was conducted by a Human Resources representative. They asked about
a) why I wanted to work at Amazon,
b) why I'd rather not pursue higher studies,
c) if I have any preference of location,
d) if I have any offers from any other company,
e) any general questions about the company as such.
The second one was a standard technical interview taken by a Senior Manager. It comprised of two algorithmic problems in which I was asked to write pseudo-code. I was asked follow up questions on the second one which I had to answer verbally.
The third was another standard technical interview, but this time by an engineer. I was asked two puzzles (brain-teasers), and one algorithmic problem with follow up questions. I wasn't asked to write code.
The fourth interview was also taken by an engineer but this was the architecture and design interview. I was asked one question to test my knowledge of computer architecture and operating systems. The second was an open-ended design problem (traffic monitoring in a large city).
My CV wasn't discussed and I wasn't cross-questioned on my answers to the questions in the written test, but this may not be a standard practice. Overall, based on my level of preparation, I felt it was easy. In the end, they hired 3 out of about 10 shortlisted candidates (based on the written test).
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe, in as much detail as possible, everything that happens on a Linux machine from the point when you hit the enter key after typing "./a.out" to the moment when "Hello World!" gets printed on the screen.
It started with an OA, and then after a few weeks, I got invited to four rounds of interviews: technical and behavioral at 3 of the 4, and behavioral only at one.
I applied online. I interviewed at Amazon (Calgary, AB) in Jun 2026
Interview
Online Assessment is the first step in the process. I didn’t have an HR phone screening and went straight to the OA after applying. It was sent to me about a week after I submitted my application.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The first question is LeetCode style algorithms question, and the second question gives a full stack repo (choice of Java, NodeJS, or Django) and asks to solve a backend issue which is causing a bug in the frontend. Unit tests must pass to pass the second question. You can run both backend/frontend indivdually or together
