Go somewhere else
Go somewhere else
- You work on products that are used by millions of people every day.
- They have some good internal talks/conferences (if you have time to see/attend them).
- Frugality: Be sure to only receive the cheapest hardware (Macs, Screens) that Amazon can find. Usually, you only get a used laptop when you start. Also, you are supposed to keep your laptop for 4+ years.
- "The leader in the cloud" develops its software on desktop PCs, which are horribly slow and run your dev environment in a VM.
- 10 days of vacation during your first year. (Don't underestimate your need for vacation. In my previous company, I had 25 days already, and it hurts to lose 15 days.)
- They run you into the ground. Prepare for tons of overtime; 12-hour days are not only normal but expected.
- Don't be alarmed if your team gets shut down and you have to find a new team within 30 days or you are fired. (This happened to my first team, and I heard of a handful of others.)
- Only the minimal parent leave required by law.
- Java is pretty much the only language in the house. If you try to change their mind, you get shut down fast.
- Lots of legacy systems/code. If you came from a fast-moving startup, be prepared that things that took you 2 hours tops will now require a 2-week development cycle with tons of reviews and millions of side effects to consider.
- The shares that you get only vest after 4 years and are not worth it; they are too low.
- People don't stay long. On average, people stay about a year before they leave again.
- Pay higher wages!
- More vacation!
- Some paid parental leave, and longer leaves!
- Pay for a great workstation (top-of-the-line MacBook Pro 15", two screens, standing desk). You keep everybody as unproductive as possible with all your frugality policies...
- Much better work/life balance. Stop "normal" 12-hour days; those literally kill people.
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Amazon Interview Questions
Amazon Interview Experiences
Software Development Engineer II
The coding assessment link was sent. I completed the first problem with no issues. For the second problem, I encountered issues with their assessment program and had to write workaround code to get it to compile properly. I video-interviewed with fo
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
San Francisco, California, United StatesApril 1, 2022The coding assessment link was sent. I completed the first problem with no issues. For the second problem, I encountered issues with their assessment program and had to write workaround code to get it to compile properly. I video-interviewed with fo
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
