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Could you help explain why the general consensus seems to consider Amazon as a just given backup and easy interview path (but the hard part is the actual job cr

• throckmortra 4y ago
  They clearly layout their interview process and even have a video series on YouTube explaining how to pass it. It is not difficult but time-consuming to learn their interview "language" Leetcode screens are a matter of grinding for a couple of weeks Source: received an offer from them in March
  • pmoriarty 4y ago
    "Leetcode screens are a matter of grinding for a couple of weeks" Did you have formal compsci training before you started studying for leetcode? Did you study algorithms before that? Just wondering how hard it would be for someone who never got a compsci degree and knows nothing about algorithms.
    • throckmortra 4y ago
      Yes but it doesn't matter, it's a skill you gain and lose with repetition. I have seen many people without formal compsci training pick it up quickly
      • Tronno 4y ago
        This may be true for most "Leetcode Easy" questions, but in my experience, Medium and Hard ones require familiarity with graph traversal, sorting algorithms, dynamic programming, etc. In other words: dedicated study.
• chairhairair 4y ago
  “You either memorized the solution to the random leetcode problem you get or you fail as far as I understand it.” No? You can actually use code to solve problems. Don’t buy into the defeatism surrounding leetcode interviews.
  • brokencode 4y ago
    I think the point is that it can be hard to legitimately solve some of those tricky leetcode-style problems under time pressure, with no access to outside resources, and with the knowledge that somebody is judging your every move. Memorizing the common problems gives you a big leg up on being able to successfully pass an interview.
    • tstrimple 4y ago
      Honestly the "right" answer in most of these types of questions is to search for a popular existing implementation. There is never a "we've got to solve this bubble sort algorithm in a locked room with no internet access" scenario. I get that they want to select for people who can solve problems by thinking their way through solutions with code, but I've never been convinced that solving leet code challenges is the way to do that. I'd also much rather solve problems without writing a bunch of code that has to be maintained, so engineers familiar with the tooling ecosystem for their platform of choice should be highly valued.
      • newbYhrly 4y ago
        Isn’t that exactly what they’re optimizing for. They don’t want thinkers who re-invent the wheel?
        • tstrimple 4y ago
          Then why are they testing them on reinventing the wheel? Isn't that exactly what leet code is doing?
          • 4y ago
• hn_acc_2 4y ago
  Actually, among the MAGMA companies I've found the _least_ bias for leetcode-memorization at Amazon. My interview with Meta was exactly as you described (a CS riddle taken from a textbook, to be solved without running the code or receiving hints). But in my interview with Amazon, each coding interview also included a couple leadership questions. If you want you can look up the exact questions that they'll give you to test what they call their "Leadership Principles" Also the Amazon coding questions were not taken directly from Leetcode, and were easily reasoned out without prior knowledge of a special algorithm.
  • malfist 4y ago
    We have a question bank that we are required to ask from that can be found online. Coding questions and system design challenges are individual to the interviewer. Some are good, some are bad, some are leet code, some are reasonable, it's kinda a crapshot. I saw a bar raiser (a bar raiser!) asking path finding algorithms as his coding challenge which is nuts to me. All that signals is if you've worked with path finding algorithms before, or remember your college class that taught A* But I'll be honest, our interview process is public and online and hasn't changed in a long long time. We select mostly for people who have the spare time and dedication to learn our interview process.
    • shuckles 4y ago
      It's hard for me to interpret your comment since you never state who "we" refers to.
      • malfist 4y ago
        Sorry, we is Amazon. I had made the jump from we->amazon because the article is about amazon, but I realize that isn't super clear to anyone else.
      • fzil 4y ago
        not the person who wrote the comment, but "we" -> Amazon.
    • 4y ago
• tick_tock_tick 4y ago
  > They still do leetcode screening don’t they? I mean that's a big part of what makes it so easy. Near zero "culture fit" or anything random you just need to solve easy problems.
  • dimitrios1 4y ago
    The culture fit for Amazon IMO comes down to "are you willing to work nights and weekends on a moments notice no matter what?"
  • nostrebored 4y ago
    The entire interview at Amazon is based around culture fit. The tech bar is the same across levels. The ability for you to execute in the culture is the whole point of the interview.
  • malfist 4y ago
    Our training material explicitly excludes culture fit questions or decisions since it is a source of bias.
    • nostrebored 4y ago
      What is culture other than the shared set of beliefs that you agree to work with? LP questions are culture fit questions. What’s excluded are things that go beyond that, for example “how do you feel about drinks with coworkers?”
      • malfist 4y ago
        Fair, though traditionally when people talk about culture fit they are a lot of times asking "is this someone I could be friends/get a drink with" which is treading dangerous waters.
    • scrame 4y ago
      who is "our"?
• zwkrt 4y ago
  I worked at Amazon for 5 years and was in over 100 interview loops. Amazon won't hire you if you don't have the skills, but they are/were relatively lax in hiring compared to other big FAANG companies. It is also helpful that they historically have been such a huge and growing company that if you have the skills and the basic interview techniques down, they will try pretty hard to find a place for you. Amazon at least used to also offer a down-leveled role if it was obvious that you were a good programmer but couldn't prove to the capricious hiring loop that you were going to perform at the level you were applying for. This means if you are a mid-senior level programmer that interviewing for Amazon is kind of a slam-dunk in the sense that you'll definitely get hired even if for a lower level. I have thought similar to the grand-parent commenter about having Amazon as a fallback in the Seattle area. Not my ideal but somewhere that is always recruiting me and would pay the bills if the smaller company I am working for went under.
  • markdown 4y ago
    > they will try pretty hard to find a place for you. Probably not working on the website though, which is hot garbage and has been for a decade.
• wollsmoth 4y ago
  Uh, they definitely ask you a bunch of questions and you basically need to speak to their leadership principles. Being good at leetcode alone can't get you in, or that's the impression I've gotten from friends who work there. But I suppose it depends.
  • SauciestGNU 4y ago
    Also my tech screen was 2 LC hards in 90 minutes. I bounced off of that hard. Their bar might generally be lower but it's not low.
• whimsicalism 4y ago
  They're well known for having one of the lowest hiring bars of the major tech corporations, certainly out of the traditional "FAANG" they are by far the easiest to get hired at. N > F = G > Apple > Amazon in terms of hiring difficulty, from my impression. Until recently, their pay was also not as competitive and they had massive turnover rates.
  • laidoffamazon 4y ago
    • rjsw 4y ago
      Maybe Amazon is more confident that they can get good work out of a broader range of people.
      • zwkrt 4y ago
        Yeah I would say that Amazon has a ton of basic work that needs to be done. The website is so big and complicated and multi-faceted compared to some of the other big tech companies. Sometimes you really just need to hire a developer/team to ensure that the underwear size-picker is working correctly. Of course Amazon also has lots of insane CS-heavy infrastructure and algorithm work as well.
    • Arrath 4y ago
      That is a fairly uncharitable reading of that post, which mentioned nothing of the (perceived) abilities or skills of the engineers. Your account name leads me to believe you've been impacted by this, and I feel for you. I am sorry. I hope you're able to find a new gig relatively stress free and find yourself in a better place.
      • codyb 4y ago
        Yea I suspect many of us know people who're terrible at LEET code problems who're great engineers. And vice versa. I hope Parent gets the help they need. I am thankful I cannot imagine a world where... Google's "elite" engineers impacted my world in such a drastic manner. Good luck to you friend.
• cr4nberry 4y ago
  > You either memorized the solution to the random leetcode problem you get or you fail as far as I understand it. I thought the point was to actually learn the theory behind the question so memorizing isn't necessary? Like for dp questions for example: it's easier to do them if you just visualize the dag The whole "memorize every question" shtick is the wrong way imo. Just seems very time inefficient to me
• kypro 4y ago
  I think he meant being an Amazon warehouse worker / delivery driver would get him by until he found something better.
• newobj 4y ago
  The median turnover at Amazon is 18 months. They have to hire a lot. The bar is just lower.
  • ctvo 4y ago
    This is the same across the entire industry. https://insights.dice.com/2017/08/22/tech-jobs-last-2-years-study/ https://insights.dice.com/2017/08/22/tech-jobs-last-2-years-...
• zem 4y ago
  i've never interviewed at amazon, or even heard much about their interview process, but the sheer amount of recruiter spam i get from them gives off a "desperate for engineers we aren't getting" vibe, so i can see why people think it would be easier to get in there than at the other tech megacorps.
  • technion 4y ago
    I think the Amazon recruiters are far more "spray and pray" in their approach. I get messages from Amazon recruiters telling me to attend some careers event in California next Friday, that I read from my desk in Sydney.
  • AStellersSeaCow 4y ago
    Part of the issue is they can't/won't compete on comp or benefits with other big tech companies, but still have high-ish standards on hiring, relative to the industry as a whole. That means they need a huge candidate pool, since most won't make it through interviews, and most of those who do won't accept their offer since they can get better offers from other companies.
• omgomgomgomg 4y ago
  I see it the same way, once you were in and left on good terms, you are always welcome back . I treat it as my fallback too, the shifts are easy, all you have to do is not be late (or early, for that matter) and adhere to break times. If you do that and you are not the weakest performer, you will have a good life. It is one of the very few companies where taking ownership is really rewarded, they lay the path for promotions, they even ask you which role you would like in the future and no hard feelings if you leave for another department. I have never seen or witnessed micromanaging, the holiday system is the best I have seen. Keep in mind I was a fully virtual employee, maybe things are different in office. I know I can go back there if I like and enter at a level where I get stock compensation right away with a solid salary. If you collect plenty of accolodates and maybe get a badge or two, they will never forget you. I think they habe a very good screening process and a pretty good sense for hiring the right people at any level(the requirements are rather high for the salary). The reason why they like to re hire people is often the immense onboarding cost, anything level 3 and up requires quite some learning and training time before you can even think of being productive. If I was hiring, there is no way I would hire a level 5 from outside amazon if I could give that role to an experienced level 4 employee. All teams are pretty huge, think of lets say 10 head team, within the first six months, they will habe 2-3 months of training and upskilling, and really, you have to habe that training to do things like vcs, vat etc, as you will at least have to have some fba skills for that role. If Amazon is letting people go, it must be pretty bad, usually they are not cheap about redundancy, theu are wise enough to be ready for spikes in business. Not sure what has happened there and I strictly speak for office jobs in europe, everything else , I do not know. The whole thing is quasi subsidised by aws and this comes bit as a surprise to me. I prefer bit more risky endeavours and chose amazon whenever my risk apetite has decreased. Amazon is a rather solid employee if you perform, just be on time and have good adherence time, as a company with a million employees, this is understandable. It is also much less chaotic than you would imagine from such a giant corporate entity. If they need you for programming, aws sales, language skills and tax matters, you will be doing fine there. On tax matters or newly established teams, the next level is always in sight and within reach. I hope the severance packages will be fair. I struggle to understand the bad rep for amazon seen online, working for musk or google is many times worse. Facebook used to be pretty good from what I hear. Maybe its all individual perception and a bit of luck or misfortune. As for the screenings, yes, they do, but they do not care about memorized things, they try to care and see how you start to deal with an issue.
• xwolfi 4y ago
  Dude they wanted to make me come to Canada for interview and Im French working in Hong Kong. They look completely insane, recruit anyone with a keyboard and might even pay well.