For my second blog post I thought I would talk a bit about the interview process for internship at Amazon last summer. I applied in Fall 2020. At that point, I had taken the two intro CS courses at OSU, as well as discrete math and Computer Arch./Assembly. I was concurrently taking web development and data structures. I think taking data structures that same quarter was perfect timing, as it greatly increased my ability to solve LeetCode problems and understand how to approach the problems.
I was fortunate in that my friend had worked at Amazon for 2 years at this point, and he was able to refer me. I think having this referral played a big role in me getting my resume past the initial screen and ultimately getting the position.
Prepping for the interview was a still lot of work. I did roughly 150 LeetCode problems over the course of a month and a half. This list of problems is a great starting point that covers a wide range of types of problems. LeetCode also has list of problems that are frequently asked by specific companies, and I went through the list of problems that Amazon asked most frequently as well.
I think the most important thing is not to just be able to solve coding problems, but to be able to explain your process as you’re coding out the solution, and voicing out your thought process. Even if you’re stuck, you should be talking out loud and explaining what you’re stuck on, and what possible solutions you’re considering attempting to unblock yourself. Usually, a good interviewer will hop in with a hint. A big point of the interview I think people miss is to gauge your communication skills as well.
On top of coding, I had to prepare myself to answer behavioral problems. Amazon places a lot of emphasis on their leadership principles, and I tried to mold my previous work experience around these principles.
Thanks for reading!
