How I got an SDE2 offer from Amazon London (Interview Experience)

How I got the Opportunity

I work as a SDE2 @ Amazon India. It had been >2.5 years since I joined. I got promoted in the first quarter of 2024. At Amazon, once you are SDE2 (L5), you are allowed to perform an overseas internal shift, but only after you complete 1 year in that position. There are exceptions where you can move out before you complete 1 year, if the manager thinks you are deserving and the leadership (L8 Director and L10 VP) approves of it.

I always wanted to experience a different work culture than India. Had heard so much about US, and how good the work life harmony is in Europe. I decided to start applying 9 months after my promotion, cause that way I will also complete a year in case I get an offer.

But destiny had some different plans. Just after my promotion, due to org changes, I moved to a new org in Fire TV, called FTV 3P org, mostly concerns with partnerships with different vendors like Panasonic, Funai, etc. I was given a project to drive which had great customer impact (can’t share the exact details, sorry 😞). This project was being led by a London team and I was helping with integration of the same in our component. I spent 4 months on this project starting April. I had done the design and some implementation as well. In parallel, was tackling some critical bugs. The manager of the project owning team happen to notice my “Bias for Action” and “Ownership” (these are Amazon LPs, and Amazonians use these to communicate in day to day work life, and almost everything in Amazon revolves around them). He wanted me to consider moving to the Amazon London office so that my work can have more impact on what they were trying to achieve in the entire United Kingdom (that is highly confidential so I can’t share it).

Decision Making Time

I had couple weeks to decide whether I would like to go ahead with the project. Following are the points I considered:

Career and growth wise

• A team within Fire TV so I won’t have to start from scratch and can use my past experience. Also, no ramp up time.
• Team had a great 2 year plan and exciting upcoming projects, impacting the sale of FTVs in entire UK.
• Team had good senior engineers, and are easy to reach out.
• I had heard great experiences and growth stories from my seniors who had moved there.

At that point in time

• Manager ready to take VP exception for me. It had been only 2 quarters since my promotion.
• Market at that time was not that good that I could patiently wait and apply eventually. Chances are high that Amazon freezes hiring, or stops international transfers.
• London is the best city when it comes to lifestyle and work. It offers a rich blend of history, culture, and travel opportunities around Europe.
• Opportunity that came on its own. Seemed too good to turn down.
• I was only 25, and great time to move abroad when I don’t have many responsibilities or dependants.

After jotting down the comparison, I talked to my family who was very supportive of my decision to move out.

I told the HM that I am interested and would like to go ahead with the process (yes, I still need to clear interviews 😂). This meant that if I clear the interviews, then I am committing to accept the job offer. The process is such cause the HM is also taking a risk and spending resources in getting me hired.

HM was quick to schedule my interview rounds.

Interview Process

The HM scheduled 3 interviews. 1 technical, 1 system design, and 1 hiring manager + system design. I had 4 days to prepare and the interviews spanned within 2 days.

Internal interview process is supposed to be easier when compared to external hire, reasons:

• You are already an Amazonian well aware of how things work here.
• I specifically was part of the same Fire TV org as the new team.
• You have existing Amazon artefacts to prove your work.
• You have peers to vouch for you. Since they are Amazonians, their feedback is valid.

Interview 1 — Technical Round

This was with a tenured SDE2 at Amazon. Following questions were asked:

• 2 leadership principle questions. I used my Amazon related stories to answer them.
• Small design question — Design an Amazon comment filtering system. This was a surprise for me as I thought some DSA coding question would be asked. Nonetheless, I tried my best to answer this. Created a class diagram and implemented some of the APIs. The interviewer was satisfied.

After a little over 1 hour, the interview concluded.

Interview 2 — Design Round

This was taken by a tenured Senior Engineer (SDE3) at Amazon. The interviewer was very friendly and well spoken. I was nervous but he made me feel comfortable.

Following questions were asked:

• 2 leadership principles. Used my previous project to answer them. Better to use different projects’ stories in different interviews so that they have diverse artefacts.
• Asked to walk me through a HLD design I worked on and its implementation.

Interviewer seemed satisfied with my design and implementation and appreciated the code quality.

Interview 3 — Hiring Manager + Design Round

This was the last round taken by the Hiring Manager. Following questions were asked:

• 2 leadership principles. Used a new artefact to answer them so that they have ample data points from me.
• Asked some manager kind of questions.

HM was satisfied with my experience and designs. The interview got over on a positive note and I was confident that I will get the offer.

Results

Within 30 minutes after the HM round, the HM had a de-brief with the fellow panel members. He told me it was a hire vote from all 3 and that I will be getting the offer from Amazon London 🎉. I was feeling very happy and content.

The next day, the offer letter was in my hand. London is calling…

If you read till the end, thank you! If you think the article helped you, do let me know via LinkedIn.

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Originally published on Medium.