Took a lot of time to get the interview process going, after several calls with various recruiters. I even had to chase recruiters several times to get the process going. The actual interview day was good, 4 interviews in a row, it was informative, people were nice. Got the chance to ask a lot of questions. Discussed my fit with the role (and other open positions) with the hiring manager, and was able to explore other options within Amazon. Ended up taking an offer for a different role than the one they had originally called me for.

No HR screen; you answer those questions over email. You do a ridiculous project simulation where you answer emails. Paradoxically it’s interesting yet cheesy at the same time. Very unique but not that difficult. Then the first real interview. Rarely with the direct hiring manager; usually someone else in the org but not this direct team. So it’s useless to research the department. In fact, it’s better to prepare your strong STAR examples. They probe deep, which is fine. They heavily expect numbers. The more you can spout out random numbers (it’s okay, no one will verify) the better. The final round is more of the same — Just more STAR interviews, 2 per session, 4 sessions total. The people in this round are even more critical and harsh than the previous rounds. All done by people who have worked here for 5+ years and have never left — or if they did they came from another FANG company. So they’re all typically arrogant and jaded and negative or on the way to getting there. Finally they all have this weird verbal communication style where they just talk on and on like they expect you to interrupt them — but it’s an interview so you have to be polite can’t interrupt them. So like what the heck.