Software Engineer Interview Experience - Phoenix, Arizona
Process
Applied for a new grad/entry-level position. There were a total of three interviews.
The first interview was technical and conducted online. The interviewer asked a laundry list of questions for an hour, focusing primarily on OOP concepts, with no whiteboarding or technical algorithm design questions.
If you passed this initial interview, you were invited to their Superday (with approximately 25 other students), where the second and third interviews were held. One interview was behavioral, and the other consisted of 3-4 questions involving brain teasers and system of equation problems.
Questions
What is a garbage collector in Java? When does it run?
List the 8 Java primitives.
Define algorithm. List different search algorithms and their time complexity.
In SQL, what are the different types of joins? What is a subquery?
What's the difference between StringBuilder vs. StringBuffer?
Explain the Java Collections library. Why is the library so big? How do you know what to use?
What is the "dom"?
When can an object be cast?
Explain the 4 pillars of OOP without giving examples.
Read code and determine what is printed from the given code which contains inheritance/overloading.
Implement exception handling if you had to iterate through an array.
List two reasons to use threading.
What are two drawbacks of Single Page Applications? What are two benefits?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 41 interview experiences for the American Express Software Engineer role in Phoenix, Arizona.
Success Rate
American Express's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in Phoenix, Arizona is fairly selective, failing a large portion of engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for American Express's Software Engineer interview process in Phoenix, Arizona.
American Express Work Experiences
- 5.0Yeah, I get why they are #4 best place to workSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeePhoenix, Arizona, United StatesJuly 6, 2025Pros: Projects are interesting, the pay is good, and the benefits are good. You are busy during the day, but generally, you have a good work-life balance. Management is very receptive when you ask for more help. Three days a week in the office plus free lunch. No one will yell at you when you mess up.Cons: They rely heavily on contractors. It appears they do a lot of hiring in fall but start doing layoffs in summer. Usually, full-timers are fine, but you'll suddenly find yourself with a much larger workload due to losing so many people at once.
- 4.0Relaxed and chilledSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeePhoenix, Arizona, United StatesSeptember 6, 2024Pros: Lots of room to learn and grow.Cons: If you don’t speak up on what you want to achieve, you will remain stagnant.
- 5.0Fantastic Colleagues, No ConsSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeePhoenix, Arizona, United StatesJuly 18, 2021Pros: Great colleagues, always willing to connect.Cons: There are no cons that come to mind.
American Express Interview Questions
