Amazon

I applied for the Amazon SDE Intern role through an off-campus opportunity. The selection process consisted of an online assessment followed by a technical interview. The OA included two coding problems along with behavioral questions based on Amazon’s Leadership Principles. The coding problems were around medium difficulty, so I focused on getting a correct solution first and then optimizing it. After clearing the assessment, I received an interview invitation. The interview was conducted virtually and lasted around an hour. It started with a brief introduction and some discussion about my projects. The interviewer asked questions about my technical contributions and the design decisions I had made. The first coding problem was a modified version of **Koko Eating Bananas**. I initially discussed a brute-force approach using linear search and then identified that binary search could be used on the answer. I was asked to explain the `isPossible()` function and analyze its complexity. I also discussed edge cases before coding the optimized solution. The second problem was **Find the Missing Number in an Array**. I explained multiple approaches, including sorting, using extra space, mathematical summation, and XOR. The interviewer specifically wanted to understand why the XOR approach gives an O(N) time and O(1) space solution. Throughout the interview, the interviewer focused heavily on my thought process, optimization, edge cases, and complexity rather than just the final code. There were also a few behavioral questions based on Amazon’s Leadership Principles. A few days after the interview, I received the confirmation that I had been selected for the Amazon SDE Intern position.