Amazon

Graduate Software Engineer Interview Experience - Cape Town, South Africa

August 1, 2024

Neutral ExperienceNo Offer

Process

The interview started with technical OA. The first question was easy enough, but the second was a binary search with a peculiar edge case that I couldn't figure out. The rest of the process was not too bad and well thought out, except for the end, which involved a strange personality quiz that didn't make much sense. It used sliders for "more like" and "most like me," but either option could have been interpreted the same way.

Questions

What algorithm would be best to use between A and B, given A and B's results? Just interpretation and analysis; no coding knowledge is needed.

Was this helpful?

Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Amazon Graduate Software Engineer role in Cape Town, South Africa.

Success Rate

0%

Pass Rate

Amazon's interview process for their Graduate Software Engineer roles in Cape Town, South Africa is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.

Experience Rating

Positive0%

Neutral100%

Negative0%

Candidates reported having mixed feelings for Amazon's Graduate Software Engineer interview process in Cape Town, South Africa.

Amazon Work Experiences

Decent pay overshadowed by poor management and work-life balance

Graduate Software Engineer • Former Employee

London, England

September 8, 2026

Pros: The compensation for the position was decent.

Cons: Terrible work-life balance and poor upper management.

Decent pay overshadowed by poor management and work-life balance

Graduate Software Engineer • Former Employee

London, England

September 8, 2026

Pros: The compensation for the position was decent.

Cons: Terrible work-life balance and poor upper management.

Good People, Lots Work

Graduate Software Engineer • Former Employee

London, England, United Kingdom

Pros: Seems ok. Good benefits and people.

Cons: Lots of work to do.

Good People, Lots Work

Graduate Software Engineer • Former Employee

London, England, United Kingdom

Pros: Seems ok. Good benefits and people.

Cons: Lots of work to do.

Great environment to do work that matters

Senior Software Development Engineer • Current Employee

Cape Town, South Africa

Pros: Many companies have stated values; Amazon truly lives and breathes our Leadership Principles. Motivated colleagues and great management encourage a healthy balance. Decisions at all levels can be questioned (though this can contribute towards feelings of operating in a hostile environment if not done tactfully).

Cons: We have a lot of proprietary tooling, which makes transitioning to and from outside industry hard for engineers. This is particularly difficult for more experienced hires, who expect to be productive and have a fair amount of impact soon after starting. On the upside, most of these have good reason to be the way they are, and it pays to learn and understand them well. Sometimes our frugality can result in questionable decisions; this has become more rare as time goes on.

Great environment to do work that matters

Senior Software Development Engineer • Current Employee

Cape Town, South Africa

Pros: Many companies have stated values; Amazon truly lives and breathes our Leadership Principles. Motivated colleagues and great management encourage a healthy balance. Decisions at all levels can be questioned (though this can contribute towards feelings of operating in a hostile environment if not done tactfully).

Cons: We have a lot of proprietary tooling, which makes transitioning to and from outside industry hard for engineers. This is particularly difficult for more experienced hires, who expect to be productive and have a fair amount of impact soon after starting. On the upside, most of these have good reason to be the way they are, and it pays to learn and understand them well. Sometimes our frugality can result in questionable decisions; this has become more rare as time goes on.

Decent pay overshadowed by poor management and work-life balance

Graduate Software Engineer • Former Employee

London, England

September 8, 2026

Pros: The compensation for the position was decent.

Cons: Terrible work-life balance and poor upper management.

2.0
Decent pay overshadowed by poor management and work-life balance
Graduate Software Engineer • Former Employee
London, England
September 8, 2026
Pros: The compensation for the position was decent.
Cons: Terrible work-life balance and poor upper management.

Good People, Lots Work

Graduate Software Engineer • Former Employee

London, England, United Kingdom

Pros: Seems ok. Good benefits and people.

Cons: Lots of work to do.

4.0
Good People, Lots Work
Graduate Software Engineer • Former Employee
London, England, United Kingdom
May 2, 2024
Pros: Seems ok. Good benefits and people.
Cons: Lots of work to do.

Great environment to do work that matters

Senior Software Development Engineer • Current Employee

Cape Town, South Africa

Pros: Many companies have stated values; Amazon truly lives and breathes our Leadership Principles. Motivated colleagues and great management encourage a healthy balance. Decisions at all levels can be questioned (though this can contribute towards feelings of operating in a hostile environment if not done tactfully).

Cons: We have a lot of proprietary tooling, which makes transitioning to and from outside industry hard for engineers. This is particularly difficult for more experienced hires, who expect to be productive and have a fair amount of impact soon after starting. On the upside, most of these have good reason to be the way they are, and it pays to learn and understand them well. Sometimes our frugality can result in questionable decisions; this has become more rare as time goes on.

5.0
Great environment to do work that matters
Senior Software Development Engineer • Current Employee
Cape Town, South Africa
May 14, 2018
Pros: Many companies have stated values; Amazon truly lives and breathes our Leadership Principles. Motivated colleagues and great management encourage a healthy balance. Decisions at all levels can be questioned (though this can contribute towards feelings of operating in a hostile environment if not done tactfully).
Cons: We have a lot of proprietary tooling, which makes transitioning to and from outside industry hard for engineers. This is particularly difficult for more experienced hires, who expect to be productive and have a fair amount of impact soon after starting. On the upside, most of these have good reason to be the way they are, and it pays to learn and understand them well. Sometimes our frugality can result in questionable decisions; this has become more rare as time goes on.

Amazon Interview Questions

Two Sum

Find two numbers in a given array that add up to a specific target value, and return their indices. Essentially, you need to efficiently locate the pair that satisfies the sum requirement.

Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock

You're given daily stock prices. Find the maximum profit you can make by buying and selling the stock once. You must buy before you sell.

ArraysDynamic Programming

Reorganize String

Rearrange the characters in a given string such that no two adjacent characters are the same. If such an arrangement is possible, return it; otherwise, return an empty string.

StringsGreedy AlgorithmsArrays

Copyright © Taro