I recently had a phone screen with Amazon for L6 Engineer position. The interview had 2 parts, one part about leadership, behavioral questions and a technical interview. I felt i answered the leadership questions ok but finished the technical challenge well within time and after the interview i validated that the solution was correct and optimal. Through out the techinal interview, the interviewer was silent even when i tried to explain what i was doing. Recruiter gets back to me saying that i nailed the Leadership questions but interviewer felt I will be a good fit for L5 and not L6 based on technical review. I asked for exact feedback and recruiter refused to give me any details. Can anyone from Amazon explain what must have gone wrong with the technical part of the interview.
SDE 3 bar is high. Interviewer might be expecting more of you and not just happy case solution. How much is your exp and why do you think you meet SDE 3 bar ? If you are getting right money, join as SDE 2.
Trust me, I was inerviewed for sde2, cleared all the rounds like a charm, one round even lasted like 15 mins as interviewer was out of questions. I was still offered sde1 but was told that i will be promoted with in 6 months, just because i will be compared to sde2s after i join and then it will be an issue, which i dont think makes any sense now that i know! Still promo in progress after 9 months.
Agreed, problem is that team which interviews and the team you join could be different. Bar is not standard across teams. Moving from sde 2 to 3 will take at least 1.5 years in any case. Go for money and team, forget titles.
i have 8+ years experience. If the interviewer was expecting more from me for the position, interviewer should have asked me more questions. Recruiter should have given me proper feedback. If i was not fit for L6, that should have been communicated to me even before i interview.
They could have discovered during the interview that you are a better fit for L5. And yes, it is annoying not to get feedback but providing feedback is a double edged sword since it can lead to a debate from the candidate and end up being a messy situation for the company. Frankly, interview processes are subjective so they can be hit or miss. Not just with amazon but with pretty much any company. Don’t spend too much time on retrospecting. Move on and find something that is a better fit. Good luck!
Just move on. It’s not worth as sde2 at amazon. Sde 3 bar is stupid and mostly luck plays a part as what projects you get to work on and what’s your role. Sde2 at amazon is economy class.
Amazon tends to do that sometimes. If the interviewer was quiet, it could just mean that they were writing up notes. I have seen almost verbatim transcripts written into the feedback forms that all interviewers are supposed to submit. The recruiter gave you this feedback based on just a phone screen?
yes the feedback was just based on phone screen and asked me if i want to consider a lower level which i declined
That's absurd. Try applying for another team maybe. I interviewed with three teams before I joined.
Amazon does not provide specific interview feedback to anyone.
Not just interviews but also many internal dealings and binary at Amazon and probably for good reason. No one has time to keep arguing back and forth, especially with interview candidates. That burns the bridges. Even at internal interviews while attempting to change teams, people get rejected despite the candidates felt they did great. To illustrate: if someone had asked me how to build a search engine while I was in college I could have given a decent very high level answer and convince myself that I’m qualified for a Senior Eng position at Google. Also seen computer guys saying sending satellite is simple, it’s just that physics principle :) But Amazon is liberal about recycling. So, in 6-12 months they might consider you again.
7 years ago, which was 17 years into my career, I was a finalist for a Senior SDE position with a new team in NYC. I didn’t get it, even though the interviewing process was way easier back then (I didn’t even take it seriously because I wasn’t looking and it seemed a long shot). 6 years later, I’m recruited for an SDE position in Seattle, and I get an offer for SDE 2. So I could have been an SDE 3 6 years ago; but now I barely made it in as an SDE 2. Now that I’m at Amazon, I realize I could be a 3 because I’ve seen all of this before (and many times over). It now seems stupid to be an SDE 2 at Amazon, so I’m likely to leave because I’ve had bad manager luck; and you simply cannot get promoted when that is the case. Oh well, I learned a lot but it’s still easy work.
Switch teams, enjoy new manager before you bale to FB/Google
Switch teams. Go to a less established team where you can make an impact. "Santa Monica" cough cough go to Santa Monica
It’s probably due to something simple like not being able to spell the word “technical” correctly. Amazon places very high value on writing skills.
No they don’t. This post is wrong.
Don't do it. They did the same to me. Amazon is notorious for down-leveling incoming talent.
Amazon always does that!! Dont get trapped either u come for L6 or dont waste your time! They trapped me saying that they will promote me with in 6 months but they didnt
Thank you for the information. I declined to proceed further.
Same. Exactly same