Amazon Interview Experience | Support Engineer | 6 month Internship

Last Updated : 2 Dec, 2024

In November 2022, Amazon conducted a hiring drive at Anna University, Chennai, for the role of Support Engineer. This was their second drive of the year, following the Software Development Engineer (SDE) hiring process in August. Here’s a detailed account of the hiring process and my journey.

Hiring Process Overview

The recruitment process consisted of three stages:

Online Test
Technical Interview I
Technical Interview II

1. Online Test

Participants: 69 students

Format:

14 sections covering topics like DBMS, OOPS, Programming, Networking, Error Handling, Software Engineering, and Data Visualization.
All questions were MCQs, with one DSA problem of easy difficulty.

Key Takeaway:

The online test laid a broad foundation, testing both theoretical knowledge and basic coding skills.

2. Technical Interview I

Participants: 17 students qualified for this round.

Platform: Virtual interview on AWS Chime with two interviewers.

Questions:

Introduction: Tell us about yourself.

Project Discussion: My resume highlighted projects in Machine Learning (ML), Full Stack Development, and Front-End Development. The interviewers focused on:

My ML project: Android Malware Detection System.

Reason for choosing the project and its problem statement.

DBMS:

How do you apply a condition in a query?
Which keyword fetches unique values from a column?

DSA:

Occurrence of a Character in a String: Explained and coded a solution using a hash map. Improved complexity to O(N/2) using a two-pointer approach.
Odd- and Even-Indexed Array Elements: Solved with an O(N) approach.
Scenario-Based Question: Modify the occurrence-counting logic to handle case-insensitivity by converting characters to a specific case.

Experience: The interviewers were encouraging and appreciated my answers, making the session smooth and interactive.

3. Technical Interview II

Participants: 9 students advanced to this round.

Platform: Virtual interview on AWS Chime with live coding.

Questions:

DSA:

Missing Number
Loop in a Linked List
Linux Commands:
Find a specific word in a text file.
Command to edit a text file.
Operating Systems (OS):
Define deadlock and its necessary conditions.
Explain CPU scheduling algorithms with examples, including SJF, SRJF, RR, PS, and FCFS.

Project Discussion:

Discussed a project I was passionate about, focusing on the tech stack and the use of JavaScript.

Experience: Though some Linux command questions stumped me, the overall process was smooth. The interview lasted about 30 minutes.

Final Result

Three students were selected, including two from Computer Science (myself included) and one from Information Technology.

A Personal Note

Coming from a bio-math background, I initially felt out of place in Computer Science. However, I learned that coding isn’t just about writing programs—it’s about understanding the processes behind the scenes. With consistent effort, I overcame my self-doubt and developed a passion for problem-solving and technology.