I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 days. I interviewed at Amazon in May 2011
Interview
Hiring process consisted of a phone screen and a series of in-person interviews in New York, New York. The phone screen took place with a Human Resources representative that examined my overall background for fit with the position available, Software Development Engineer with the Global Optimization Engine Team. I was then invited to New York, New York where I met where I had four one-on-one interviews (1 in the morning, 3 in the afternoon). The interviews were a mix of skills assessments (background in object oriented programming, data structures, algorithms) as well as personality assessments for fit within the team. Overall, the interviews were challenging (borderline difficult), but maintaining one's composure proves helpful in my opinion...after all, your response to stress is being evaluated as well.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Develop a general algorithm to enumerate all postal codes, for package routing, when passed of country of interest (note: postal codes do not necessarily follow a consistent pattern or perhaps exist on the international stage).
It started with an OA, and then after a few weeks, I got invited to four rounds of interviews: technical and behavioral at 3 of the 4, and behavioral only at one.
I applied online. I interviewed at Amazon (Calgary, AB) in Jun 2026
Interview
Online Assessment is the first step in the process. I didn’t have an HR phone screening and went straight to the OA after applying. It was sent to me about a week after I submitted my application.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The first question is LeetCode style algorithms question, and the second question gives a full stack repo (choice of Java, NodeJS, or Django) and asks to solve a backend issue which is causing a bug in the frontend. Unit tests must pass to pass the second question. You can run both backend/frontend indivdually or together