SDE 2 - Interview had about six total rounds, including the recruiter conversation
1. After my resume was shortlisted a recruiter set up a 30 minute call with me to understand more about my background and my fit for the role
2, then was a technical screen over Zoom with the staff engineer where they asked a low level design style coding question ( not the typical leetcode round ) - you would be required to share your own IDE
3. After clearing the technical round was the loop round with 4 rounds
- System Design round
- Project deep dive : share a project of your choice and explain the architecture, design decisions, and different aspects of the project. A principal software engineer took this interview for me, so there were a lot of questions related to the design choices, current drawbacks of the design, some improvements , etc . This is a 1 hour round so be prepared.
- Hiring Manager Round : standard behavioral questions
- Data Structures and Algorithm ( similar to technical phone screen , you would be required to share your own IDE )
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
- share a project of your choice and explain the architecture, design decisions, and different aspects of the project. A principal software engineer took this interview for me, so there were a lot of questions related to the design choices, current drawbacks of the design, some improvements , etc .
- distributed cache with some follow up questions. I practised using Hello Interview. In the interview, they didn't really ask to design it from the scratch. They have a system design diagram with some pitfalls ( eg writes are slow ) they would ask you targeted questions like what could you do to imrpove write efficiency. Then they ask followups on your answer. Overall, it was more like a 60 minute discussion on your choices.
Connected with the recruiter. This was a Principal recruiter. Came across very stern and non- welcoming. Basically no warm way of speaking to the candidate. Felt like an interrogation rather than an interview. Turns out there was 1 HM round, take home assignment, presentation, + 3 rounds for just getting paid 50 bucks an hour in NYC (on-site). Definitely not for me
I applied online. I interviewed at Amplitude (San Francisco, CA) in Jun 2026
Interview
The interview process followed a standard format: an initial recruiter phone screen followed by a technical interview with an engineer. The interview itself was straightforward, and I felt that my performance was strong. However, I received a rejection email a few days later.
One aspect that stood out was that the interviewer did not seem particularly engaged, and the conversation felt more like a one sided assessment than an interactive discussion. As a result, the overall experience felt less collaborative than I had expected.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Implement hacker news page with dynamic data fetching from API.