What Is It Like to Be an Amazon Software Development Engineer?
Being an Amazon Software Development Engineer (Amazon SDE) is both a rewarding and challenging position. It is a dynamic role that requires strong technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and having overall characteristics that thrive in a fast-paced environment.
The core responsibilities of an Amazon SDE revolve around designing, building, and maintaining the software that keeps Amazon running. This can include the following tasks:
- Innovative Projects – Work on cutting-edge projects from scalable e-commerce platforms to AI solutions.
- Technical Challenges – Your work will often involve tackling complex technical challenges that include big data, performance, and security. Solve them with cutting-edge tools.
- Customer-Centric Approach – At Amazon, customer obsession is more than a motto. You will directly contribute to this mission by working closely with product and design teams to understand user needs. The challenge will be to translate those insights into innovative solutions.
Make sure you visit our thorough prep guides for the tech giants Google Software Engineer Interview and Microsoft Codility Test.
What Is the Amazon SDE Assessment?
The Amazon SDE Assessment is an initial screening step that any Amazon candidate applying to Intern, New Grad, SDE I, SDE II, and SDET positions must pass. It is a multi-part online test that will evaluate your technical skills and cultural fit to the company.
It includes coding challenges and questions that will evaluate your problem-solving abilities and coding proficiency. The assessment includes other tests to gauge your alignment with Amazon’s leadership principles, such as the Amazon Work Simulation and Amazon Work Style Assessment.
The Amazon SDE Assessment is divided into 4 parts:
SDE 1, SDE 2, and SDET
- Part 1 – Coding Challenge with two questions
- Part 2 – Work Simulation
- Part 3 – SDE Work Style Survey
- Part 4 – Amazon Work Style Survey
Take a look at this video to learn more about each section of the test:
Access Our SDE Assessment Simulation
💡The Amazon Work Simulation and Work Style Survey are personality tests tailored to scenarios that mimic real interactions as an Amazon Software Development Engineer. Our SDE Assessment PrepPack includes practice for every part of your online assessment, including both personality tests.
- Amazon SDE Work Simulation – 2 practice tests to develop your system sesign and problem-solving skills.
- Amazon SDE Work Style – 3 practice tests with full explanations to learn how to answer based on Amazon's Leadership Principles.
Amazon SDE New Grad
The Amazon Software Development Engineer position accepts new graduates and interns to join. Although the application and assessment process are not the same as the other candidates, every Amazon SDE new grad will have to prove the same set of skills set and work values.
The Amazon SDE Assessment for new graduates and interns is divided in two parts:
Interns and New Grads
- Part 1 – OA1: Two coding questions
- Part 2 – OA2: Work Simulation and Work Style Assessment
Note: The practice tests, tips, and full explanations included on our Amazon SDE PrepPack are relevant for these tests as well.
Amazon SDE Coding Test
The Amazon SDE Coding Assessment is a timed online programming test with two coding problems limited to 90 minutes. These involve mainly basic data structures and algorithm problems, easy-medium level. You can use any of these languages: Java, C, C++, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, Swift, Clojure, Erlang, among others.
The test measures the following abilities:
- Problem Statement Retention – Reading a problem and understanding what it's asking.
- Coding Ability – Understanding problems, figuring out solutions and translating those to code.
- Data Structure Application – Taking a problem and solving it in the simplest way by applying the appropriate data structure
- Runtime Complexity – Going over your own code and assessing major issues it might have.
- Simplification – Creating a simple solution to a complicated problem in a way most people would understand.
To prepare for the coding test Amazon suggests that you focus on algorithms, data structures, coding fundamentals, and high scale architecture.
Ace Your Amazon SDE Assessment
💡The best way to ace your upcoming assessment is to practice with accurate simulations. Our Amazon Practice Pack offers a precise simulation of all Amazon SDE assessment sections, crafted from extensive research and feedback gathered from hundreds of Amazon Software Development Engineers.
For $59 you can access our complete preparation materials including:
- Hundreds of OA coding questions – Including answers and full explanations.
- Video guides – Offering step-by-step explanations.
- Timed coding simulations – Similar to the actual SDE test.
- Practice for personality tests – With expert tips and leadership principles explanation.
How to become an SDE in Amazon?
Interviewing for a role of Amazon Software Development Engineer usually takes four to five weeks overall. Here’s a breakdown of the recruitment process:
- Submit a job application - Craft the perfect application with our Amazon resume tips.
- Complete the Amazon SDE online assessment
- Submit questionnaire to match team and locations – The questionnaire is designed to collect your preferences for job location, item or product domain, tech stack, work environment and career goals.
- Attend the interviews – You will have to go through a number of interviews including a technical and behavioral interviews. You will also attend an on-site interview process that will consist of 5-6 interviews, each lasting around 45 minutes.
- Speak with recruiters and team leaders – Gather information and choose your new team.
How to Prepare for the Amazon SDE Assessment?
The best way to prepare for the Amazon SDE Assessment is by constant and thorough practice that focuses both on fundamental programming skills and the ability to handle complex system design.
Here's a few tips that you can follow with our complete PrepPack:
- Refresh Fundamental Knowledge - Start by revisiting all the basic and advanced data structures such as arrays, linked lists, trees, stacks, and queues. Make sure you're also comfortable with algorithms that operate on these data structures, such as sorting, searching, and traversal techniques.
- Pay Attention to Code Efficiency - While practicing coding problems, focus on optimizing both time and space complexity. Understand the trade-offs associated with different approaches. For instance, an algorithm might use more space to achieve a faster execution time.
- Dive Into Complex Data Structures Enhance your knowledge base by learning more about complex data structures like hashmaps, B-trees (and their variants such as B+ trees and B* trees), and caches. Familiarize yourself with the associated algorithms that leverage these structures. These are particularly important for solving more sophisticated problems that involve large data sets or require high efficiency.
- Learn High-ale Architecture Explore how large websites and services structure their systems to handle massive amounts of traffic and data. Learn about concepts such as load balancing, distributed computing, microservices, and database sharding.
By covering these areas thoroughly with our Amazon SDE PrepPack, you'll not only prepare effectively for the online ssessment but also build a strong foundation for the interviews that follow. Remember, consistency is key, so maintain a regular study and practice schedule leading up to your assessment.
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