Updated by Amazon candidates
SDE II Software Development Engineer Interview Experience
I went in expecting the usual behavioral-first format, but in my loop they flipped it and opened with the coding question. The behavioral part still mattered, they just used the follow-ups to see if I actually knew my own work in detail.
Interview process
I interviewed for an SDE II role, and the whole process felt pretty standard and transparent. Amazon told me upfront what the process would look like, so I did not feel like I was guessing what came next: first an online assessment, then three 40-minute interviews back to back on the same day. The technical questions were all very classic problems, and the biggest surprise was that my interviewers often started with coding first instead of spending the first part on behavioral. The behavioral side was still important, but the follow-ups went deep into the actual details of my work instead of stopping at a polished STAR answer. After the loop, my recruiter mostly asked about logistics like start date and work authorization, and then they sent me the offer letter.
- Online assessment
- Final round
Interview tips
I would definitely prep the classic Amazon-style coding questions because mine were all recognizable patterns, not weird trick questions. The bigger thing is do not just memorize STAR and think that is enough. You need to know the real details behind every story you plan to use, like the framework, how often something ran, what exactly you owned, and what you would do differently, because that is where they keep digging. I would also expect the OA behavioral part to be LP-style agree/disagree statements, not open-ended answers.
Company culture
It felt very process-driven and transparent to me. They were clear upfront about the structure, and even the OA behavioral section was obviously tied to leadership principles. The interviewers had different styles, but even when they drilled into my answers it did not feel like they were trying to intimidate me. It felt more like they wanted proof that I actually owned the work and could talk about it in detail. Once the loop was done, the recruiting side moved pretty quickly into logistics and then the offer.
Questions asked
Overview
My first live round was different from what I had read online because they started with coding first and then used the remaining time for behavioral, and the whole thing felt more like a detailed chat than a stress interview.
Question types asked
Specific questions asked
What if the pattern also included opening and closing brackets? How would your solution change?
I implemented the standard regex-matching version with dot and star and talked through my logic as I coded it. After that, the interviewer added a bracket follow-up, but he did not ask me to implement it, so I just explained out loud how my thinking would change and how I would handle parsing that case.
What platform or framework were you using to run that regression?
How frequently were you running the regression?
What exactly was your responsibility in that work?
I answered with a story from a project I was working on around regression testing and used the STAR format. What stood out was that they kept drilling into the details like the framework, how often the regression ran, and what I personally owned. It did not feel aggressive to me. It felt more like a conversation to check that I really knew the work deeply, not just the headline story.
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