Amazon Interview And Rejection

Amazon Software Developer Interview
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#software #coding #softwaredevelopment #programming #howtocode

[@meghasyam427]

amazon talk starts at 4:48

[@TienHuynh5312]

This guy is full of side stories. Took 1 min just saying how the weather outside.

[@bamberghh1691]

Thanks

[@algerienizer]

cheers

[@shmok3y]

bless you megha

[@brooksgunn5235]

_Thank you._

[@fiorellaskye8732]

i love your honesty and down to earth demeanor in sharing your experiences! so helpful!

[@charlenelopez9665]

Thanks for sharing Dave! I really appreciate people like you that take the time to help others in their efforts!

[@DaveXiang]

You're welcome. Kind words like that are motivating

[@PwnedLolz1]

A close friend of mine works as a software engineer at Amazon. We both went to community college and studied "Cracking the coding interview" for weeks. He now works there full time, while I work elsewhere with near equal pay. I plan on applying next year. It's not as difficult as people make it seem. Memorize the leadership principles, know your data structures and algorithms and don't be socially inept. As long as you treat the interviewer like an actual person/friend and don't seem needy you're in a much better position than most. If it doesn't work out don't worry, you're now prepared. Go out there and apply to positions elsewhere...that's the route I took. There's never a shortage of software engineers wanted. You'll be fine.

[@nowacry]

Thank you, Dave. It was really nice to hear that rejection is not the end but rather another beginning (: Good luck!

[@billboss4161]

I got hired at Amazon 3 different times as a package handler

[@dylano5595]

I think it's way harder to get a software developer job because they ask ridiculous questions

[@__-to3hq]

Package Handler is not in the same league as a software developer lul!

[@knows6]

😂😂😂 good job you!

[@MaziSaidSo]

Lol

[@khagania788]

They ask everything specially meaningless questions .

[@SubtleAsh-TheImmortal]

He looks genuinely Disappointed. But more so I appreciate his intention to help others in spite of getting rejected.

[@MrMikomi]

Mate, this is truly edifying stuff. I sincerely thank you for putting it out for us.

[@jetjet6560]

As someone who's still trying to even get past the 1st round for internships...getting the interview itself is amazing :) But good to see you weren't crazy hard on yourself!

[@brianbrewster6532]

Thanks, Dave, for your honest and informative interview experience self-critique. That took considerable guts to post. I suck at interviews, too, and would likely choke up on some of the technical questions. I have now worked 4 times for Amazon spread over 5 years and two fulfillment centers. While these were all blue collar positions, that uniquely qualifies me in a way to see how operations are handled in their plants and how the majority (95%) of workers get treated doing shift work. I have since gained a BS in IT, graduating in 2017 with honors. Not sure how to break out of factory work and work in an office setting just yet but after watching your wonderful video you have inspired me to try extra hard now to make this dream come true. Thanks and God bless, Dave.

[@JM-gz1ej]

Dave, this is one of the most honest and candid video I have ever seen. Excellent job.

[@wadsongeeklife992]

Thanks for sharing man. I can sense from your experience how hard it can be to work at the big 4 tech companies. I'm pretty sure you will nail it one day. I wish you success on your journey.

[@hughthomson8086]

WadsonGeekLife They do.

[@jeffpal3840]

Thanks for being truthful. There are a lot of liars on internet showing things that are not true about the real life.

[@elias8294]

This channel deserves more subscribers. Quality content, and an honest perspective.

[@vladhadzhiyski]

Great, great video! There's a lot of valuable information for any up and coming candidate for those large corporations! Keep up the great job!

[@martinbizal8614]

Dave, thanks for the video!

[@shubi454]

Appreciate the honesty Dave. Thanks for the video, it was pretty useful.

[@Spades340]

This was cool. More interview vids would be interesting

[@charlessims6940]

Dave, I enjoy watching your videos. They are always very insightful. Also love your humility.

[@melihaslan9509]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GIVING US GREAT AND SINCERE RECOMMENDATIONS!

[@nickdiplacido7383]

Thank you! I experienced that live on-site lock up on a technical question. Really thankful that this video helped put this in perspective.

[@PhilipduToit9]

cool video man, love the honesty

[@e.w.5253]

Thanks, you are amazing. I just found this (Amazon HQ2 pulled out from NY last week), your advice is wonderful for the folks. Btw when you get rejected there that means you deserve better else where. Good luck!

[@rrafaelpaz]

Yesterday really chocked on my job interview with an easy boarding test after passing the technical phone testing. The previous one I nailed the testing code but couldn't explain well my code and failed that interview. So was really disappointed and thinking about finding another profession. Your video made me feel better and understand that I'm human and it's normal to fail sometimes. Thanks for being honest and sharing your fail with us.

[@wallacepei4529]

You speak very well in front of a camera, this will make you a great person to interview and nail many jobs out there.

[@anthonycarella1779]

This is a humbling video. Thanks for sharing.

[@bowenxu5355]

Thank you so much for sharing the story!

[@marcoaguilera8727]

Had my first interview with Salesforce this week, and I can totally agree with the choking up part.

[@DaveXiang]

All good, keep it up. They are hard

[@ryanschurton3695]

Awesome video, I love how to highlight your failures.

[@FukTheSystem6969]

Thank you so much for sharing! It helped a lot!

[@AlienGodDog]

This is a great video, thank you!

[@asishcooldood]

Hi Dave, I really like your videos. They are informative, precise and helpful...!!!

[@ravinigudkar6112]

Dave, Thank you! So honest and direct. I like what you have said. Good advise.

[@kosmic000]

best of luck and thanx for the video

[@JohnDoe-wp7kb]

Solid advice, appreciate it!

[@asubaseball219]

I appreciate your honest feedback on this process. Thanks for sharing

[@sreeram2320]

All good tips Dave, thanks.

[@anthonyowolabi]

Nice, straight to the point !

[@0Tsutsumi0]

You don't need to memorize the leadership principles, you need to memorize your own stories. And yeep, your stories have to match their principles, just pick good stories and focus on practicing telling them :).

[@eon001]

Exactly. And depending on your role, you might not even need to even need to utilize half of the principles.

[@quincyaugustus2506]

Sorry to be off topic but does anybody know of a tool to log back into an Instagram account? I was stupid lost my login password. I would love any help you can give me.

[@BladeAndrade]

Great video. When you said you're not too good at coding challenges, you're showing that you're honest and that is a good thing to have. I also failed my phone interview with Google because I was extremely nervous since it was my first-time real SWE interview with no prior experience with interviews. I've been practicing, and I hope to pass the next time with Google. Good luck man!

[@Andre-jo3bk]

Dave, thnx 4 diz video ! Helpful

[@A2Kaid]

Hi Dave, I’m a UI/UX Designer and I watch your videos, thanks for making the vids and being so genuine. I had a job interview with AWS this past November and did well and they asked me to join their design team, however I postponed the deal because they wanted me to relocate to Seattle. I’m sure you can retry with Amazon, just have to sharpen up the second time. First time you got valuable insight into their process...

[@tittietakeover1050]

so helpful!!! thank you 🙏🏽 😝 for sharing!

[@bahjatmurrad8008]

I really like your videos mate! I disable ad blocker just for your videos!

[@olgajimenez3713]

I think you are brilliant, great attitude!

[@sergiysanin4767]

Programming is one of those unique professions when during the interview they put you through all kinds of weird and challenging situations which never occur in real professional life. :) So be ready to be good in two sets of skills - one for your job and one useful only when you want to advance your career (but it still requires most of your personal unpaid time to keep those skills up-to-date)

[@Jonathan-od5xc]

So well put, and so very true!

[@Yerbah]

thanks man! I have a final onsite interview next week. not sure if the process has changed but I had to do a hirevue interview after being contacted by the recruiter. its basically a program asking you questions and you answering them as it video records you. it compiles your videos and sends it to them for review. I was pretty nervous but as you mentioned I already knew what they were going to ask and had prepared answers by looking through amazon glassdoor interviews.

[@jacemcpherson8625]

If you're still in University and these are the types of jobs you want (big company software engineer), apply for internships like crazy, they almost always lead to a job with that company. Make a simple app and link to it on Github in your resume, or mention projects you've done at school that demonstrate your aptitude in CS. Don't make your resume cliche, make it personalized, feel free to let your character show up a little bit. These are the things that get through the resume filters at big companies. Google every instance of "{big_or_small_tech_company} internship" you can think of and apply (it takes a couple minutes for each one, using the same resume). Dave has great great tips in his videos. Awesome channel man.

[@physicsudel2013]

Im the same, i can def kill it on my own work at home but under pressure is a different story.

[@ahpacific]

Hey man - I really appreciate you sharing this info. It's like getting the scoop from a clever friend. Subbed.

[@Xy2tone]

Great video man . I’m not in the IT industry but I enjoyed watching this .

[@codingmorrison7957]

Thanks for the insight!

[@irvinge4641]

thanks for sharing man, i have heard a lot of behavioral stuff being asked as well but i couldnt even make it to the onsite :(

[@piercehubbard4086]

Thanks for the video Dave, I had a very similar experience interviewing with Amazon on-site in Seattle. I actually did pretty well in most of my 1 on 1 technical interviews, but Amazon has what's called a "bar raiser" interview round. This is usually with the most senior member of your interview panel and they have complete veto power, it's also typically the hardest tech interview you'll have. I know which one it was for me, and it was the one interview I didn't do well in. It didn't help that the woman conducting the interview was cold and rude, not helpful at all. I knew she wouldn't give me a thumbs up even if everyone else did. I've also heard that they encourage the bar-raiser to try and break you down like that to see how you handle the pressure (not sure if that's true though). I didn't get an offer, but now it's a year later and Amazon just invited me to do another on-site (this time in SF for their Amazon Music department). I'm hoping this one will be better!

[@michaelkelson4106]

Hey, I hope things work out for you this time. Good luck!

[@MentalPolution]

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm fly to Seattle for an interview at Amazon now and am pretty nervous. I've studied and prepared as hard as I possibly could for two weeks, if I don't get the offer then its not meant to be. All I can do is try my best.

[@sandrallancherosg]

Thanks for this video!!

[@DarkennedFlower]

Rejection is so hard but it is a great teacher :)

[@richardjay9987]

I did 5 interviews at Amazon after graduating university, was rejected. Learned from the experience, got a great position elsewhere after that.

[@YehoshuaD]

Yeah but don't worry, Amazon will put that great place out of business eventually ;)

[@mifnp8887]

FIVE interviews?? What on earth did they ask you?

[@blasttrash]

where?

[@petersmith2005]

Where is "elsewhere"?

[@Lisaiceland]

No worries ever! They're NOT the only game in town. So many opportunities everywhere!

[@isoplayers]

3:43 "...2 and a half times to make myself feel a little better..." lol I'm dead. Thank you for being honest about every thing throughout the video tho!!!

[@GabrielFelixSaas]

Man this videos is awesome i liked

[@ahmadaziz1800]

Love the tips

[@olly779]

Hey Dave! It was my comment (among others, I guess). I'm preparing for Amazon interview at the moment and was interested in your experience. Thank you very much for following up and telling your story!

[@DaveXiang]

Good luck!

[@bklashok]

Hi, I am preparing for my interview at Amazon. Did u have an interview with Amazon? If so how ur experience?

[@kheoniaspaulding5915]

Hi Olha, I am actually prepping for an interview at Amazon now. Did you get the job? Can you provide any insight?

[@abhis9353]

That thing about on and off really resonates with me. On some days I am able to do the hardest questions when I'm feeling good or in the flow. But on some due to nervousness and not being really present I stumble on medium level questions. It's good to know that other people face that as well. I have been doing a lot of mock interviews to avoid that.

[@TechViewOpinions]

Thanks for the great insight

[@JP-sv5iv]

Great video! Thanks!

[@gerrenyoung7665]

I got the job at Amazon in Seattle. Very happy about it. Thanks for the tips

[@VivekJayakrishnan]

Congrats! How was your interview dude? What position did you interview for?

[@omeringa]

Amazon had by far the weirdest interview questions I have ever received. It's pretty much measuring your storytelling/memorization ability more than anything. It's as if your job will be to study high school again instead of a professional work.

[@chrissgchriss]

Thanks for advice.

[@iliyaa.586]

Amazing!!! Thanks for sharing.. I just got rejected from a big company and I know it was because I wasn't prepared.. it's hard to do full preparation when you're intreviewing with different companies at tge same time..

[@mrnarason]

If Dave can't get a past these interviews, I have no chance

[@zezaway]

Sad Truth =(

[@DaveXiang]

You can do it

[@relaxsightme]

You can if you are good enough.

[@abe6975]

leetcode.com your way to success lol

[@wektor78]

try to get indian nationality first

[@sandrodiclemente2305]

wow thanks for sharing, good insights, especially about google. Sound and video very clear and easy to understand. I like the format you use. yes I have heard same about 14 principles and doing your homework ( prepare ) for an interview, I think more so with bigger companies, as they are into cultures and principles where as smaller companies, NOT so much.

[@voraponyunyongkaseamsuk9695]

Keep going. I think highly of you.

[@FamousCloud]

Thank you for this

[@BeANicePerson_]

Sorry to hear that for you. Sometimes it's all about the people you know to get in it sucks but its reality

[@TheTechTwins]

As an intern at Tesla and Apple, I'm always interested in seeing how other companies interview and find candidates. Best of luck in your search!

[@andressuarez3079]

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

[@SreenathV]

I had the very same experience with Amazon. But you presented it awesome...Guys @ Amazon were awesome and more than that I liked the 14 principles...

[@Feh60169]

Right on on your comments about the Amazon Leadership principles and how you need to rock them during the interview.

[@jimmarshii9947]

Great insight....thanks for sharing

[@shriebrown3500]

A very informative video!

[@HillChris1234]

My question has always been this... if you're a developer and you're interviewing for a job as a developer, why is the interview geared in such a way to where you have to study for it? If they're testing your actual real world skills, why is it something people have to study for? I mean, if I'm engineering to do a job that I've done for years and years, why do I need to study for it? Shouldn't my experience be enough to do whatever it is you need me to do? How many times to you work with binary trees or linked lists in your career unless you're like, a core mechanics engineer or something?

[@DaveXiang]

Agree

[@blasttrash]

I think it all comes down to the fact that there is no proper way to test people. Hence asking ds and algo is the best recruiters/interviewers can do coz it allows the interviewee the freedom of choice with programming language/pseudo code all the while companies dont have to worry about asking some esoteric questions either since ds and algo would be taught in most of the schools/colleges. Also from a company's point of view, they are not there to revolutionize the interview process or anything(unless the company is hackerrank or codevue), they only care about getting an employee that can do the job for them(he/she maybe the best or not.

[@truedox]

Studying is helpful because it gets your mind warmed up to thinking in the way that you expect to be questioned. Even if you expect to be tested on your real world skills, you want to study what real world skills you have and how you'd express your proficiency in them. It's one thing to be skilled in something, and another thing to use words to convince someone that you are skilled at it. You may want to rehearse your response, and a strong format to use to express your skills is in the STAR format.

[@sandrodiclemente2305]

NO, U have to generally prepare for interviews, as you may be the best engineer, but your personality is poor towards others. this will make for a counter productive workplace. companies know their are many engineers, who have done amazing things, but if your personality, beliefs and mannerism does not align with the company environment you will cause friction, and drama. As well you will not be happy working their either, that is why. by preparing and learning about the company you will discover if the company is a good fit for your personality. Easier if you figure it out yourself, before, rather than being rejected after 5 minutes in an interview. don't you think?

[@Jonathan-od5xc]

Well, I am currently studying on leetcode.com in the algorithm section (1 of 6 sections) and I have "1/945 solved." I think a large portion of a developer's career can be considered studying and preparation.

[@skyisblue3847]

Thanks for sharing your experience

[@dbporter]

Thanks for sharing

[@nia6849]

Very informative...mate

[@schmoab]

Just lost my job. I’m in my 40s. Haven’t had to do a real technical interview to get a job. Now I’m scared.

[@saad.hussain.]

If it's for software dev just use Cracking the Coding Interview and grind leetcode. Surely it'll be a lot of work and practice, but try not to feel defeated or give up, just keep at it. Good luck my man

[@ChristianHammad]

Welcome to the millennial rat race. Good luck out there.

[@marriumkhan20]

Thanku for the honest video and sharing experience. Its really insightful and informative. Best of luck

[@M0oMo0o]

Thanks for sharing this stories Dave it's always a pleasure. Btw, I'm sure you're more than qualified to work at this companies, the time hasn't simply come yet for you. I wanted to ask you a question please, i'm in a french engineering school and i'm studying 'Computer and Industriel engineering', but i'm not interested in the 'industriel' part. Do you think I can switch to full 100% computer/software engineering by studying alone ? I'm thinking to apply to computer/software related MS in the US to face this problem. Do you have a list of some fairly "reachable" universities but with reputable programs. Thank's a lot and good luck :)

[@DaveXiang]

A lot of program do this these days. They combine different programs into one. My program was Electrical & Computer. I think, if you have the choice, just choose on the computer engineering related programming and take the minimum requires for the industrial side. I'm not sure why schools combine them, but there must be an academic reason for it. Just choose the classes in the set that match up with computer. Take those classes, showcase them prominently on your resume, and it should be ok. People will notice industrial as a side-learning if you do this, you can always tweak your appearance.

[@3iheartbf3]

So the 14 behavioral pillars at Amazon is like STAR questions on steroids??

[@thasaneedelight8358]

Amazing!!!

[@jdiwkall]

you "look" good bro. keep up the good work and hope you get what you want.

[@willn8664]

I have been working at home for Amazon as a Shipping and Delivery Support Associate for a month now. It's an okay job. I enjoy the commute from the bedroom straight to my home office.

[@mahmud-ahsan]

Congratulations, for exposing the story. Actually, we learned a lot more from failure than success! In the end, it doesn't matter where you work for. The matter is whether are you happy or not in your current state! All the best!

[@chiranthanmr]

Thanks for the honest talk. I am always intimidated by people who act like they are way smarter than me just coz they cleared a coding interview. I understand now that interview is more related to how much you can prepare and how you can handle stress situations. I will work on those aspects.

[@wensun9768]

Thanks very much for sharing.

[@watchmeasifly]

Dave, just a thought (as someone who works at Amazon). You don't need 28 stories for the LPs. Rather just get a story that hits a lot of those LPs. Write them out, and try and see if they hit each one at least once. Good luck on your next try :)

[@eon001]

Jon Yea I figured this out after my 3rd failed interview lol. I've got around 8 solid stories that are interchangeable with the 14 principles. 28 stories is bonkers, and I would even have the time to tell all the stories. And for my particular role, I would not even need all of them.

[@fflodeiro]

@@eon001 Jon did you repeat your stories a lot? I have about 5 stories and I feel in trouble to have to repeat these stories...

[@eon001]

@@fflodeiro I repeated, but reframed them with different context. 28 unique stories is overkill.

[@KB-wb9ym]

Hi Dave, thanks a million for such a wonderful and very informative video mate. All I could say by watching your video is.. may you were supposed to work in a better place. Keep posting. Namaste, Chandu

[@wassssk3149]

good video. subscribed!

[@vietnguyen9187]

Thank you for your helpful video. I wish I could see your video before applying to Amazon :D Did they give you any meaningful feedback after that? How long did you hear from them back?

[@zedatrix]

Hey dude, thanks for sharing the experience. Fact is, AWS is the biggest player in cloud.. Sucks you got rejected! I subscribed to your channel. Looking forward to more great content!

[@markowen4061]

thanks for sharing ! For me the interview at AWS went quite smooth onsite and i was interviewed for two different roles (some new embedded project and NLP for AWS Germany). I was not aware of the NLP interview part, but it was a nice surprise since i also let the recruiter know that this is one of my interests - though i am not an expert there yet. In the end i've got an offer for NLP job, but offered ~20k less than what i've communicated as my minimum expectation to the recruiter at the telephone interview. Since i am still happy with my current job (which is a bit less interesting than NLP, i have to admit but also challenging as SW architect for a large scale embedded system) , the city is much more liveable than the AWS location AND i've felt a bit cheated regarding the salary offer, i've rejected the offer.