is this normal? Interviewer was 15 minutes late, and dragged on my interview to make my next interview start 20 mins late. They asked me a standard system design question, as i started to write the design api and basic structure on the whiteboard they said "you continue I'm going to get a coffee". he was gone for another 15 minutes. When he came back I explained what I had written down and how it covered the requirements I had define with them before they left for coffee. The interviewer was obviously not paying attention as soon as I was done they asked me questions on how the system worked, which i just explained. I figured perhaps it wasn't clear so I went through the system again in a different approach. They then asked me a third time another question on how my system would handle a scenario (which was what i just explained). Perhaps I wasn't clear enough, hard to say, but I can say fairly confidently they were not paying attention. I found out in the last 2 interviews that this interviewer i described above is the hiring manager for the team I was interviewing for. For me if this manager acts like they did during the interview there is no way I would want to work for them. I'm not sure if I'll get an offer, i think overall i did good but not great during the 4 SWE interviews, but I don't want to work for a manager that has no respect for other people's time and who doesn't pay attention when they are talking. Follow up questions for @Amazon: 1. is this a style of interviewing? i.e. mean interview to see how the candidate handles it. 2. is this a normal manager at Amazon? 3. am I the crazy one? TC: 180K YOE: 5
1. is this a style of interviewing? i.e. mean interview to see how the candidate handles it. -> no definitely not. At the very least not from the interview training and for interviews I had shadowed I had a manager who was like this. On his phone/laptop when talking to me. Always have to repeat 3 times. Didn’t like it at all. Very rude.
Glad to hear it's not the norm at Amazon. I wonder if I do receive an offer if I can request a different team or manager
You are probably interviewing with a specific team? Worth asking, doesn’t hurt.
May be tired of interviewing many people on same day as he is hiring manager.
Perhaps but it was 9am, and I'm pretty sure they either just got in or had one interview before mine
9AM and already hiring manager round?
Tell the recruiter. I’m a hiring manager at Amazon and this behavior is completely rude and unacceptable. Sorry you had this experience.
Thanks, I'll send an email today and follow up with them during the call
This would’ve been acceptable only if the HM had taken you for coffee as well while asking you general intro questions.
Definitely report to the recruiter
I'm sorry to hear you had to go through this. We have good people. Report this person to the recruiter.
Thanks, the other 3 interviewers were great, so I figured it was just one
Well every person is different. Before this job I interviewed in amazon once and the phone interviewer was terrible. He was working from home, came in 15 mts late, dog was barking in the background and then someone came to the door and he was out again for 7 odd minutes. Needless to say I did terrible in that interview.
Huge red flag for the team. If you are in a stable job and get an offer ask for another team.
That's what I'm thinking
So a lot of people are saying to report this bad interview to the recruiter. Sounds like you should wait for the decision on the offer before giving that feedback. But I wonder—it’s obvious what to say if you get a no, but what if you get a yes and it’s somewhat lowball? How would you negotiate higher and then ask for another team? Unless negotiation on the hiring side is done by someone other than this manager, you’d be kinda stuck with take-it-or-leave-it. So you’d be better off not saying anything other than thanks but I’ll only join if you can find me another team; you’d have to be working with a truly remarkable recruiter who works with other managers, finds one with the right open position for you, and then gets you into a negotiation with that new manager. That all has to happen before the offer expires. Pretty unlikely but I suppose you could try it.
Definitely not normal. As the others said report to the recruiter. When I did went through the hiring I had a Sr Client Lead in addition to the recruiter. The Sr Client Lead specially asked for an email follow up about feedback about the onsite and if there was any issues. If you had someone like that as a contact direct this feedback to them and not the recruiter otherwise talk with the recruiter.
This is not Amazon, and the Chipmunks who took your interview are not Amazonians. I feel sorry and offer my 2 cents apology on behalf of all we Amazonians. Now, next step- pick up the phone, call your recruiter and explain this all. Ask that you want to talk to the HM. If needed, feel free to ask for reinterview.
My interviewer was quite aggressive and rude as well. Sad that you have to apologize for so many ppl.
Chipmunks or not, they are as Amazonian as yourself and trusted to be in the hiring process.
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Report to the recruiter
Have a call with them Monday
It does not help