Round 3: System Design (1 hour)

My Preparation:

Just two weeks before my interview, I dived back into Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA). I started by tackling recently asked Amazon interview questions. I knew that each round of an Amazon interview delves into one or two Amazon Leadership Principles, so I made sure to integrate them into my preparation....

My Interviews:

Screening Round...

Round 1: Coding and Problem Solving (1 hour)

Question 1: Longest Valid Parentheses I initially proposed a brute-force approach, examining every possible substring for validity, which resulted in an overall complexity of O(N³). The interviewer requested a more efficient solution and provided a few hints. I then devised an O(N) solution using a stack. However, when asked to solve this problem without using additional space, I couldn’t come up with a solution using constant space....

Round 2: Coding and DSA (1 hour)

Question 1: Construct Binary Tree from Preorder and Inorder Traversal The interviewer asked if we could recover a binary tree if we had the in-order traversal data. I explained that to recreate a general binary tree, we need in-order traversal along with either post-order or pre-order traversal. I successfully implemented the solution during the interview....

Round 3: System Design (1 hour)

Question: Design Uber The interview involved an in-depth discussion about handling a sudden increase in cab demand from a particular location. We also covered low-level design, discussing API architecture and database schema for an Uber-like platform. The open-ended nature of the discussion allowed me to showcase my technical skills and knowledge in building distributed, high-traffic systems....

Round 4: Bar Raiser Coding and Low-Level Design

Question 1: Minimum Window Substring I started with a basic solution, but as the interviewer provided more examples, I realized it wasn’t simple. I eventually figured out that a sliding window approach was needed. After a few attempts, I found a solution that worked for all cases and wrote the code....

Round 5: Hiring Manager

This round felt more like a casual conversation than a formal interview. The interviewer asked about my interests, past experiences, and notable projects. There were also three situational questions aimed at addressing Amazon’s leadership principles, such as dealing with conflicts with a manager and prioritizing tasks between operational excellence and business requirements....