What to expect at Amazon on-site for Solution Architecture role?

May 11, 2018 13 Comments

Recruiter mentioned it’s 1 presentation and then couple of meetings with current Amazon employees for fit. Are these technical deep dive rounds?

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TOP 13 Comments
  • Drink less water and go empty stomach. From blind i got to know there is a severe shortage of washrooms at amazon . Some people have to climb 5 floors just to take a piss.
    May 11, 2018 6
    • Amazon
      deeeeee

      Go to company page Amazon

      deeeeee
      It hurts to state the obvious but no, it’s not, and what you’ve said is an exaggeration. It’s no worse than at any other tech company I’ve worked for.
      May 11, 2018
    • Amazon
      YMrl80

      Go to company page Amazon

      YMrl80
      I’d love to see someone from Facebook starve to death. Someone offer that fool a job! Avoid management.
      May 12, 2018
  • Amazon
    YMrl80

    Go to company page Amazon

    YMrl80
    It’s pretty straight forward if you aren’t shy.
    May 12, 2018 3
    • Amazon
      YMrl80

      Go to company page Amazon

      YMrl80
      The group for this interview loop will be comprised of a mix of different individuals. These are other SAs, Managers, even mixes of other positions. Your bar raiser is likely a service team lead of some sort.

      All of these individuals went to MGHD (Making Great Hiring Decisions). The forefront of this class is ensuring quality candidates and hiring and developing the best by utilizing specific interviewing patterns.

      Not everyone follows these but most should. The core of this is understanding the STAR behavioral interview pattern and tying it back to leadership principles.

      Questions will be tied to a similar process of asking you to describe how you would or did x; what I would suggest:

      Read up on STAR and read the shut out of the Leadership Principles. Think about times you’ve solved problems and apply.

      Then go through the blogs and papers on Amazon, especially around: scaling (out and up), serverless, n-tier architecture, and DB solutions (ETL both server and serverless).

      In doing that you will have a great foundation for the Amazon way of doing it, especially if you already had one. Take those blog examples and tie back to real examples. Then when interviewing pause a second after the question and think of a situation to tie the question to, this helps you elaborate.

      Back to the question. Are they technical deep dive? Yes but it depends on the interviewer and position level of peers, as well as their position. Remember, these are other employees that are not always experienced as hiring managers despite the MGHD class so you get a heady mix.

      A benefit of STAR for someone who is not shy is that it also detracts from the question a bit and can make it conversational.
      May 13, 2018
    • New
      Bill Bezos

      New

      Bill Bezos
      Beautifully explained. Thank you for taking the time.
      May 13, 2018
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    ilovebacon

    Go to company page Amazon

    ilovebacon
    Mix of tech, whiteboarding and behavioral. Ask for toilet break even if you dont have to go for mental break as its draining
    May 11, 2018 1