Cracking Amazon's Software Engineer Interview: String Encoding Challenges & Success

Software Engineering
,
1

amazon | Software Engineer | Interview Experience

Interview Date: Not specified
Result: Pass
Difficulty: Hard

Interview Process

The interview was conducted online and included both technical and behavioral questions. The candidate faced a technical screen focused on query processing for the core team at Amazon. The interview began with two behavioral questions, followed by a technical problem.

Technical Questions

  1. String Encoding and Decoding
    • Given a set of numbers, implement Run-length encoding (RLE) and bin packing encoding based on the following rules:
      • Use RLE for 8 or more repeated characters.
      • For other cases, use bin packing (copy the original).
      • If there are fewer than 8 characters, prioritize using RLE.
    • Follow-up question on how to decode the encoded string.

Tips & Insights

Understanding the problem statement took considerable time, as the candidate went through various cases during the interview.