Amazon Solution Architect interview questions

Entire interview process took around 1 month. Required some offline homework with a 1 week deadline, and numerous (I had seven) one on one 1-hour long interviews - suffice to say the process is extremely intensive. One interview was very technical and the remainder was behavioural. Technical questions were very similar to those questions mentioned in the previous reviews, however, the 'homework' was split into two parts. One to test your general technical abilities (how to set up and configure a basic website) and one to test your basic abilities using AWS services. The second part of the homework was to write a 3-4 page architectural document describing the best method to architect a LAMP stack in AWS. The technical interview was a one on one session to describe your design. The behavioural interviews were standard one on one interviews, where they asked you questions. There was an opportunity to ask questions as well. The behavioural questions were example-based - e.g. "give me an example of a time when...". These questions were largely based around the Amazon leadership values. I tried to skirt around some questions a few times by telling them what I would do or how I achieve it without giving an example (in part because I wasn't immediately able to think up examples) but they pushed back and asked for specific examples. The reason for this is their interview style is very example based, as they feel that your past examples give a good indication of what you will do in the future. I made it to the final stage, but didn't get an offer. Very disappointed. Not because I really wanted the role (see below), but because I put a lot of effort into interview preparation and homework. These used a lot of my own time and my limited annual leave. Positives Experiences: - Interviewers appear to be extremely hardworking, busy and very committed to AWS. Most interviewers had to leave the interview right on time since they had other commitments. - Interviewers seem very intelligent - Very structured interview process and mostly organised. - Tough but fair questions. - Most interviewers were quite friendly. Some wanted to get on with it ASAP. Others wanted to get to know you a bit better. Negative Experiences: - Most interviewers gave poor answers to my questions and answers felt a bit disingenuous - towing the company line instead of what they honestly felt. Often this was to a point where interviewers gave answers that were 80% the same, right down to the wording. - Behavioural questions focused on leadership values. They regularly mentioned how the leadership values drive their culture and how people practice these values everyday. They also like to make it a point that based on their experiences, Amazon is the only company that truly follows its values. However, when I turned the tables and asked for specific examples of when they've displayed these values in their everyday role, the answers were mostly poor. - In every interview they mentioned how important feedback is to them and that the company is a feedback driven company. In part because feedback and learning from feedback is one of the leadership values. However, when asked if I can get feedback about why I wasn't offered the role, I was told "It is company policy not to give feedback". Made me feel as though this is another company with values on a wall but no action behind those values.