Note : I have not done much leetcode problems yet though I like this platform. I handpicked few types of questions and did but I revised data structures very well because of lack of time.
Amazon Interview :
Easy to Medium level questions
1st is Two coding question and if you give 100% optimized answer you are all set to go to onsite .
Onsite - Two coding second and fourth interview first one behavioral and third one was design
This was first interview with big tech org when I came to USA and realized you just need little bit of practice to clear the coding interviews ..
Design interview - One lady took my interview She mentioned that she was working in Facebook before and now she is working in Amazon as a Lead engineer . Never smiled, neither was friendly in the entire conversation she was looking with a foolish face to me through out the discussion !
( I didn't do well in last coding round neither got any hint from the interviewer. I knew I wouldn't clear as i didn't do well in last coding round ultimately result out and I didn't which was ok as expected, It was ok my first interview in usa )
Learning : You must know the tricks and techniques to solve a problem in a given time just data structures and fundamental won't help and never ever have the assumption that interviewer is going to help you (If he does help you, You are not the right fit anymore)
Google interview : Online coding in Google doc on a graph problem (Medium) ..
I did very well I copied the code tested after the interview and made sure of that my logic works. I am surprised to know the next day I didn't clear the first round I was really surprised why ..
I introspect what went wrong ! Neither the HR shared any feedback .. I remember this guy he didn't even tell his name ! didn't even introduced himself. He just pasted the question in google doc, I introduced myself, I didn't get any intro from him, asked him his name which he avoided, straight away asked me to explain the question he pasted and code if I understand the question he didn't spoke anything in entire interview process.. finally I started with my explanation, assumptions and gave him some naive and finally wrote the best solution I could.
After I am done with the code I asked him if he see anything that I didn't address .. He seem to have scanned the code said looks good and Finally he said we are almost 3 minutes away from 45minutes if I have any question for him . I asked a question about the role and project he is interviewing me for he said the first round is just a fitment test and he doesn't know much about he was just asked to take the interview .
Learning : He was not helpful and friendly but the biggest take away from here to me was You should be self sufficient to drive the interview process with mentioning some assumptions you may end up talking to people who might not be in a good mood.
Uber Interview :
It took almost two months for the total process to complete since the time I spoke to the first HR .
Questions were Easy to medium level leetcode.
Very First : online coder pad round ( I remember when I asked about some clarifications he discouraged me saying He want to see what I think and just write your assumptions and code in a positive way ). Finally I did good I wrote some test cases and proved my assumptions and answer are correct giving the most efficient approach I gave him another few approach to the given problem which he very much appreciated at end. I was immediately conveyed the other day that I did very well and will be brought for onsite ..
(Note there may not be a available position for you right at that moment so once you clear the interview they try to match/share your profile to different team With Uber and Google)
After around a month HR came back to me with a team/role to be interviewed for.
Finally I went to onsite ( Very prompt with reimbursing your expenses compared to my earlier amazon interview, booked flight and hotels all other arrangements done smoothly)
I met around 8 people during a full day long interview process
1st - Coding around an hour ( with two people )
2nd - Tech Talk with a senior engineer about How I/We work engineering best practices ..
3rd - Lunch break (It was a surprise interview I was not aware of this interview which was only focused on Why Uber)
4th - Behavioral (its liitle different than Amazon behavioral .. I loved the way the Manager asked questions he never asked me any question straight forward rather he asked me to tell almost every thing happened in my entire experience and extracted the answers to all his behavioral questions he wanted from me he mentioned them after every story I was telling very nice and humble guy)
5th- Design interview about building a scalable product and taking this vs that etc etc
6th - another and final coding round (with 2 engineers)
I was very confident and did very well with all code and design interviews with optimized solutions which they appreciated. ( with one exception Lunch interview with a PL, He mentioned in the very beginning of our conversation that he saw my resume he didn't want to bring me for onsite but others insisted.. He seemed to be very unsatisfied with my answers to some hr type questions he asked during our lunch, he would not let me complete with my reasoning in the entire course and kept on telling about what similar technology there with Google, Amazon, Lyft, Tesla etc .. We had some disagreement with opportunity vs availability for a innovative product which I did in my leisure years back without necessary technology)
Finally result out and I was not selected which I never expected. I was bit worried about the lunch interview until the result confirmed my suspicion.(You hardly get any feedback from HRs personally I never got any real feedback to be able to know what exactly went wrong and work on them for future)
Overall I would say Uber interview experience was much better I chatted with some nice people in every way than Amazon and Google.
Learning : Communication skill, Good command on English is must..
But This is my suggestions to people like me particularly who are non-english speakers just Coding doesn't help much in real interviews
Coding interviewers are not very friendly this is a wrong assumption that tech interviwers are friendly if you are stuck they give hint . ( I realized you can't rely on the fact that interviewers would give some hint or help to work towards the solution )
If you haven't given 100% correct and a competitive/optimized solution you never hope for LUCK
You have to SING in english thats when people would like you in non coding situations so please please work on english too more than coding interviews.
Finally you are in or out can be decided by the guy with whom you are going to have lunch with
Anyway I got placed with another company with very competitive wage for which I would definitely encourage people to prepare for these Big tech company which would help you raise the bar and reaching as high as possible.
So Cracking the interview for big tech is not a difficult task if you master these three simple techniques or own these skills already
- You master the data structures/computer fundamentals
- You must know the techniques to give the acceptable/optimized solutions To meet the time. You can't meet the time for any questions asked unless very good speed on your language ( DS is must but only can rescue when you don't know the most optimized solution and python as a language may be if you don't have speed in your own language )
- Must have a very good communication skills
I hate hearing excuses or giving excuses
Interviews in India are very different, if you belong to Top universities then only you will get a chance to get interviewed with these top companies ( with very very very few exceptions). But I am so happy that In America in just an year itself I first time got interviewed by these 3 big big Tech Giants without even sharing a Resume which is awesome :)
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