Scale Engineer

L5

Software EngineerSDE IIHard

The L5 Software Engineer interview at Amazon (SDE II level) is a rigorous process designed to assess a candidate's technical expertise, problem-solving abilities, and alignment with Amazon's Leadership Principles. It typically involves multiple rounds focusing on data structures, algorithms, system design, and behavioral aspects.

Rounds·4

Timeline·~14d

Experience·4 - 8 yrs

Comp band·US$130000 - US$180000

Interview time·180 min

Evaluation

What they measure.

  • Technical Proficiency: Depth of knowledge in data structures, algorithms, and programming languages.
  • Problem-Solving Skills: Ability to break down complex problems and devise efficient solutions.
  • System Design: Capability to design scalable, reliable, and maintainable systems.
  • Leadership Principles: Demonstrated alignment with Amazon's core values and behaviors.
  • Communication: Clarity and effectiveness in explaining technical concepts and thought processes.

Preparation

How to prepare.

Tips

  1. Master Data Structures and Algorithms: Focus on arrays, linked lists, trees, graphs, hash maps, heaps, and sorting/searching algorithms.
  2. Practice System Design: Study common design patterns, distributed systems concepts (CAP theorem, consistency models), and practice designing various systems.
  3. Understand Amazon's Leadership Principles: Prepare STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) stories for each principle.
  4. Coding Practice: Solve problems on platforms like LeetCode, HackerRank, focusing on optimal solutions.
  5. Mock Interviews: Simulate the interview environment to get feedback on your technical and communication skills.
  6. Review Past Projects: Be ready to discuss your contributions and technical challenges in previous roles.

Study plan

Fig · Study plan — 04 phases

01 / 04
01

Phase 01 of 04

Foundational Data Structures and Algorithms

Weeks 1-3: Data Structures & Basic Algorithms. Read LPs.

Weeks 1-3: Focus on foundational data structures (arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues, trees, graphs) and their common operations. Practice basic algorithms like sorting, searching, and recursion. Solve easy to medium LeetCode problems related to these topics. Begin reading about Amazon's Leadership Principles.

Questions

Commonly asked.

  • Design a rate limiter.
  • Implement a function to find the median of a data stream.
  • Given a list of strings, group anagrams.
  • How would you design a distributed cache?
  • Tell me about a time you failed and what you learned from it.
  • Describe a complex system you designed or worked on.
  • How do you handle disagreements within a team?
  • Implement a function to reverse a linked list.
  • Design a system to suggest friends on a social network.
  • What is the difference between a process and a thread?

Locations

Regional differences.

Fig · Regions — 02 locations

01 / 02

Location

Seattle, USA

Interview focus

System Design: Emphasis on scalability, availability, and distributed systems.Data Structures & Algorithms: Deep understanding of complexity and efficient implementation.Behavioral: Strong focus on Leadership Principles, particularly 'Customer Obsession', 'Ownership', and 'Bias for Action'.

Common questions

  • Design a URL shortener.
  • Implement a Least Recently Used (LRU) cache.
  • Given a binary tree, find the lowest common ancestor of two nodes.
  • How would you design a system to track the top K trending items?
  • Discuss a challenging technical problem you solved and how you approached it.

Tips

  • For Seattle/US interviews, be prepared for in-depth system design discussions and complex algorithmic problems.
  • Practice explaining your thought process clearly and concisely.
  • For international locations (e.g., India, Europe), while technical rigor is high, there might be a slightly greater emphasis on foundational data structures and algorithms, alongside behavioral questions tailored to local market nuances.

Rounds

Round-by-round.

Expand a step for evaluation criteria, sample questions, and prep notes.

Med

Data Structures And Algorithms · 45 min · Software Development Engineer (SDE I/II)

This round focuses on your core data structures and algorithms knowledge. You will be asked to solve one or two coding problems, typically on a shared online editor. The interviewer will assess your ability to understand the problem, devise an efficient solution, write clean and correct code, and explain your approach. Expect questions on arrays, strings, linked lists, trees, graphs, and basic dynamic programming.

What they look for

Ability to translate a problem into code.Efficiency of the solution.Clarity of explanation.Handling of edge cases.

Evaluation

  • Coding proficiency
  • Problem-solving approach
  • Understanding of data structures and algorithms
  • Communication of thought process

Sample questions

  • Given an array of integers, find the contiguous subarray with the largest sum.

    ArrayDynamic Programming

  • Implement a function to check if a binary tree is a Binary Search Tree (BST).

    TreeRecursion

Prep for this round

  1. 01Practice coding on a whiteboard or shared editor.
  2. 02Focus on optimizing your solutions for time and space complexity.
  3. 03Be prepared to discuss trade-offs of different approaches.
  4. 04Practice explaining your code and logic step-by-step.

Common rejection reasons

  • ×Inability to write clean, working code.
  • ×Poor time complexity for solutions.
  • ×Lack of understanding of fundamental data structures and algorithms.
  • ×Inability to explain the thought process clearly.

DSA

Coding questions at Amazon.

Frequently reported on Amazon loops

View all at Amazon

Other guides

More at Amazon.