Good work, mediocre work environment
Good work, mediocre work environment
Amazon as a company is growing rapidly. It's going into new markets and challenging big players, as well as innovating in markets where it's already quite ahead. There is no dearth of choice when you are working at Amazon. There are a number of teams working on different products across all sorts of areas.
The best part is that the work which you do will get shipped.
That's the main thing which I love about Amazon. Software you write will see light of day in, say, 6 months. That's how quickly things move here. Teams are small and ownership is more. Process is lightweight and will never hinder you. I have never been asked to fill in timesheets or made to give hourly estimates. People are friendly. Technical arguments are settled based on data and with respect.
Amazon does most of its development in Java and uses a lot of open-source software. This frees engineers to focus on problems rather than re-engineer software which already exists.
Although some teams have poor work-life balance, the ones which I have worked in had no such problems. I have been able to do a 9-5 on most days without any work carrying over to the weekends.
The rapid growth of Amazon and increasing headcounts have put a lot of pressure on the buildings that house Amazon employees. Many Amazon buildings are packed. Seating is cramped, and elevator rides can be too close for comfort.
Career growth is hard. Starting developers enter at SDE 1 with a clear path to SDE 2, but from there onward, it's difficult to reach SDE 3 or above. Employees on immigrant work visas like H1B should know that Amazon does not start your permanent residency process until you hit SDE 2 (level 5). This is where politics sometimes rears its ugly head. You might find that really hardworking engineers play the game.
Amazon does not offer additional perks when compared to companies like Microsoft or Google. Apart from the 10% discount on Amazon purchases (capped at $100) and a few team outings, you won't get much. Don't expect to get the latest Amazon gadgets for free.
Fix at least the first two problems listed in the Cons section.
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Amazon Interview Questions
Amazon Interview Experiences
Software Development Engineer II
Started with an online assessment and then, upon clearing it, moved on to a four-round on-site interview loop. This included three rounds with the team and one round with the bar raiser.
Software Development Engineer II
5 rounds of interviews: 1. OA (2 Medium/Hard Questions along with some Work Related Assessment which tested design related concepts) 2. HLD 3. DSA 4. LLD 5. Bar Raiser Technically, the questions were of medium difficulty and with good polish, you s
Software Development Engineer II
Normal format with one OA and four rounds: two coding, one system design, and one low-level system design. Medium to hard level LeetCode questions. The low-level system design round had a common question requiring the use of the decorator pattern.
Software Development Engineer II
United StatesSeptember 2, 2025Started with an online assessment and then, upon clearing it, moved on to a four-round on-site interview loop. This included three rounds with the team and one round with the bar raiser.
Software Development Engineer II
Bengaluru, Karnataka, IndiaSeptember 1, 20255 rounds of interviews: 1. OA (2 Medium/Hard Questions along with some Work Related Assessment which tested design related concepts) 2. HLD 3. DSA 4. LLD 5. Bar Raiser Technically, the questions were of medium difficulty and with good polish, you s
Software Development Engineer II
San Jose, California, United StatesJuly 15, 2025Normal format with one OA and four rounds: two coding, one system design, and one low-level system design. Medium to hard level LeetCode questions. The low-level system design round had a common question requiring the use of the decorator pattern.
