Complete noob to amazon. Everything I've read is to study leetcode easy/mediums, but that is all from new grads and jrs. Is this the case for Sr. SDE? Will I be completely screwed if I spend the next week grinding mediums and there's a chance I get thrown a hard? Also, what level do you think I would come in as, for a Sr. SDE - I have ~9.5 years exp. Also, any advice for passing the LP portion would be appreciated! Unlike most of this sub, I don't have offers from Uber/Google/Amazon/Lyft/Twitter/Snap etc etc. I'm just a normal dev that has never worked at a real software company, only consulting/contracting companies. I really want this. Thanks!
I just interviewed with Amazon and getting leveled at L5 even though they think I could be L6 (could be typical recruiter talk). Coding was quite easy - I am not a big leetcoder but they were in the easy/medium category I'd guess. One round was focused on OOD, bit surprised but straightforward if you've done any kind of package level design before. Rather than grinding through many problems, I'd focus on getting some basic patterns down really well. For e.g. if you need to do binary search for a target insertion point make sure you can nail those boundary conditions without trial and error during the interview.
If you are aiming for L6 then you will probably have two to three or so interviews that focus on coding that you will need to ace, one to two pure system design interviews, and maybe a mixed one. All interviewers will be looking for evidence of strong architectural chops, and all will ask behavioral questions, which are equally important as technical competency at L6. It is common for candidates to be down leveled to L5 during the debrief. Re: mediums vs hards, the coding bar is not substantially different between L5 and L6. Both are expected to be able to solve problems in code. The thing that distinguishes between the two levels is the ability to design large systems well, and the ability to multiply their output by working through others / influence. Good luck!
I wouldn't say I'm aiming for L6, I just want the job. At the moment I'm a bit worried about leetcode. I bought the premium for a month. Would you say the top amazon questions on leetcode rings true? Also, I'm still not sure if I should be studying hard questions, or dedicate all my time to easy/mediums.
It’s been a very long time since I interviewed at amazon so I can’t say whether the leetcode Amazon questions are correct. I’d assume they’re are, but who knows. I doubt you’d be asked an “easy”. But covering a very wide breadth of problems will help you identify common patterns and themes which will help you with new problems, as there’s probably really only about 10 - 15 problem types, but an infinite number of ways to mask them as “new” problems.