amazon | Software Engineer | Interview Experience
Interview Date: Not specified
Result: Not specified
Difficulty: Not specified
Interview Process
The interview process consisted of five rounds. The first round focused on classic IP address questions. The second round involved behavioral questions. The third round was a system design question where the candidate was asked to design a cached file system using pseudo-code, including a client interface to read files. The interviewer preferred a fixed chunk size approach for reading and internal caching. The fourth round addressed message delivery in chat software, discussing best practices for handling user offline and online states. The fifth round involved a game design question about Tic-Tac-Toe, which required the candidate to consider arbitrary rows and columns with connection rules.
Technical Questions
- Cache Design - Design a cached file system
- Message Delivery - Best practices for user offline/online message delivery
- Game Design - Tic-Tac-Toe with arbitrary rows and columns
Tips & Insights
The candidate observed that they struggled with the optimization aspects of the design questions and felt that the interviewers had specific preferences that were not clearly communicated. It’s important to clarify expectations during system design discussions.