Amazon SDE I New Grad: A Four-Stage Path to an Offer

How the process went

1. Application

   Applied to Amazon as a new-grad candidate with a completed MS in Computer Science.

2. OA1 - Debugging Assessment

   20-minute timed round with 7 short debugging questions in C, C++, or Java.

3. OA2 - Technical Assessment

   70-minute round with two algorithm questions, plus an untimed leadership-principles survey using slider-style answers.

4. OA3 - Work Style Simulation & Logical Reasoning

   2.5-hour assessment combining scenario-based work-style simulations with 25 timed logical-reasoning questions.

5. Final interviews

   Three 45-minute virtual interviews scheduled on the same day, each separated by a 15-minute break.

6. Outcome

   Received an offer roughly a week (about 5 business days) after the final interviews.

OA1 - Debugging Assessment

Timed debugging across multiple languages · 20 minutes

• Seven short debugging questions to fix/complete, written in C, C++, or Java.

Candidate solved 6 of 7 correctly, noting time pressure from working in a noisy environment.

OA2 - Technical Assessment

Algorithm problems plus a leadership-principles survey · 70 minutes

• A problem similar to Merge Two Sorted Lists.
• A problem similar to Subtree of Another Tree.

Also included an untimed slider-based behavioral survey framed around Amazon's leadership principles.

OA3 - Work Style Simulation & Logical Reasoning

Scenario-based decision making and timed reasoning questions · 2.5 hours

• Work-style simulation scenarios asking the candidate to choose responses aligned with Amazon's leadership principles.
• 25 logical-reasoning questions to complete within 35 minutes.

Final Interview - Round 1

Leadership principles plus a design coding problem · 45 minutes

• Tell me about yourself.
• Tell me about a time you faced a difficult challenge.
• Tell me about a time you needed help from someone during a project.
• Design Tic-Tac-Toe.

Candidate had solved a similar design problem before the interview and finished it in about 10 minutes.

Final Interview - Round 2

Leadership principles plus a game-design coding problem · 45 minutes

• Tell me about a time you proposed an unpopular idea.
• Tell me about a time you had to decide something without consulting a superior.
• Tell me about a time you faced tight time constraints on a project.
• A variation of Minesweeper: design the APIs to build the grid and place mines, then write logic to solve it.

Candidate had not seen this problem before and only partially completed the solve logic within the remaining time.

Final Interview - Round 3

Leadership principles plus a tree-comparison coding problem · 45 minutes

• Tell me about yourself.
• Tell me about a time you did not meet a deadline on a project.
• Tell me about a time you had conflicting ideas with teammates and how you resolved them.
• Same Tree, solved recursively, then again with an iterative approach as a follow-up.

Source

The questions and process facts come from the candidate's public write-up, linked below. The retelling above is our own summary.