I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in Sept 2021
Interview
Over-engineered and somewhat adversarial. Interviewers avoid connecting and stick to the topic with poker faces on. The interactions with the recruiter were fantastic, he was very helpful, friendly and responsive. The As Ap hiring manager and all interviewers were stone cold. I have conducted hundreds of interviews as hiring manager or as external advisor; and I was shocked by the overall tone. Normally in interviews there is also a sense of making you want to join the team, not just your evaluation. Also, there is a secret interviewer in Amazon loops who has an overriding voice. The candidate doesn't know which interviewer plays this role. Candidates aren't informed about it. I found out from a friend on a sister team. That person's job in interview loops is to gauge whether the candidate is better than everyone already on the team. It's some form of company upskilling scheme, improving every team with every hire.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you handle all the HTTP requests coming to Amazon, so the system doesn't bog down and sends Reponses at peak efficiency and in the right order.
El proceso es largo, en total son en promedio 7 entrevistas, de las cuales 5 son en loop, lo que significa que estas 5 entrevistas pueden ser el mismo dia, una tras otra, de una hora cada una
Followed the same Amazon process intial meeting with a recruiter, then multiple rounds with various team members, and the hiring manager. They use the STAR method or variations to answer with the situation, the challenge you faced, then the actions you take, and the result. If you don't use that format, you will not get positive feedback from the interviewer.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Questions around handling difficult situations or how to handle disagreements within the team were a common theme.
I applied online. I interviewed at Amazon (Los Angeles, CA) in Jan 2026
Interview
Recruiter screening friendly. Consistently great experiences with recruiters. Got HM interview but HM didn't do the interview. Guy who did lacked the background to assess my background in AI/ML. Amazon is now kicking people out of ATS for 6 months for related roles if you don't progress.
