I applied for a role through the Amazon careers site. A recruiter reached out to me for an hour-long 1-1 interview with an SDM.

After I cleared that, they invited me for a loop interview. It was fully virtual, conducted from home, and consisted of five 1-1 interviews with an SDM, a Senior SDM, and a Senior Engineer.

The process was pretty straightforward. The loop had one round of system design; the other four interviews were behavioral/leadership.

Before the loop started, I was also asked to submit a writing assignment. It had two topics, and I could pick either. The task was to write in two pages, highlighting the leadership principles.

The last interview with the Senior Engineer felt odd, as he was super drowsy and seemed to be falling asleep while I was talking.

Three days after the loop ended, I got a call from the recruiter. They said they thought I was technical and an overall strong candidate but, unfortunately, would not be moving forward at this time. They encouraged me to apply again after 12 months.

Tell me about a time when...