Resume selection and a phone call by HR asking a few basic questions about your experience and work done so far.

The next step is the HackerRank online test. It was approximately 2 hours and included several types of questions. It began with two coding questions of medium difficulty, with a time limit of about 90 minutes. This was followed by a series of multiple-choice questions related to System Design, then a series of behavioral questions, and finally, questions about your preferences in day-to-day work.

If you score well in the automated test, HR will notify you within the next 2 days. However, if the automated score calculation is not favorable, the HackerRank test's algorithm may flag it for "Manual Intervention," suggesting that a candidate might have provided good answers despite a lower computed score. In such cases, people are assigned to manually evaluate the responses. This manual review can take 10-15 days to yield a result. Remember, candidates are not simply abandoned if not selected; you will receive a response one way or the other. Sending a reminder or two to HR is advisable if there is a significant delay.

The next two rounds are conducted back-to-back, either on the same day or on consecutive days based on your preference. Even if you perform poorly in one round, you will still proceed to the second, as the results are calculated cumulatively. A significant advantage is that well ahead of the interviews, you will receive preparation material and the names of the interviewers. You can also request additional preparation time, even one or two months, which they are happy to accommodate.

One round is the coding round, where an interviewer presents a problem statement, and you must write code in a shared live coding environment. This environment is similar to a simple text editor, so it's beneficial to practice in such a setting outside of an IDE. Making one or two syntax mistakes is acceptable. It is crucial to be vocal about your thought process; this is the most important aspect of the round, as the interviewer aims to understand your approach to problem-solving.

The subsequent round is System Design. The interviewer, usually a different person, will present a scenario. You will need to discuss the problem statement, perform calculations, explain your design choices, and identify trade-offs. It's important to remember that there is no single perfect solution.

In both of these two rounds (rounds 5 and 6), you will also be asked questions about situations you have encountered. These are designed to evaluate you based on Amazon's Leadership Principles, so prepare accordingly. Create specific stories based on your work experience that illustrate various scenarios.

If you perform well in these two rounds, you will then proceed to a Hiring Manager round and a Senior Manager round (also known as the bar-raiser round). Unfortunately, I did not advance to these final rounds, although I felt I had performed quite well in the preceding ones.