🌟 Interview Experience with AWS for SDE Intern Position 🌟
I recently had the opportunity to interview for the Summer Software Development Engineer (SDE) Intern position at Amazon Web Services (AWS). Although I didn't receive an offer, I wanted to share my experience and the valuable insights I gained from the process.
Back in March, I had applied for the position on the Amazon website. A few days later, I received an Online Assessment. Once I gave the assessment, I received a link to schedule an interview some days later. I was over the moon upon receiving this email. Then after began my rigorous preparation for the interview, working on the behavioral and technical aspects.
My interview was scheduled at the beginning of the last month. The interview could be broken up into four sections.
First section comprising of the candidate's and the interviewer's introduction, lasting around 5 minutes.
The second section, behavioral, comprised of a bunch of questions such as "Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond to do your job better", "Tell me about a time when you felt that you would not be able to meet a deadline. What did you do?" and more. This section took around 30 minutes.
Then came the technical section of the interview, where I was asked to solve a question on strings within a window of 25 minutes. I believe this was the section that wasn't satisfactory from my end and the one which led to me receiving the eventual rejection.
The last section was a 5-minute-long Q&A between the interviewer and the interviewee.
Here are a few key takeaways from my experience:
⭐Preparation is Key: Resources like LeetCode, Cracking the Coding Interview, and mock interviews with peers were immensely helpful. One key aspect of your preparation must be a thorough understanding of each and every part of your solution. In my case, even though I had come across the problem I was asked in the interview during my preparation, I believe that my clarity on the solution was not up to the mark which led to me receiving the rejection.
⭐Behavioral Questions: AWS places a strong emphasis on its Leadership Principles. Preparing for behavioral questions by aligning my experiences with these principles was crucial.
⭐Nerves: In my opinion, it is vital for one to stay calm, believe in themselves and do their best to avoid getting anxious before and during the interview. I believe this is one more area I could improve upon.
I would like to thank Claire Iacono and Akshay A. for providing me the opportunity to interview at Amazon Web Services (AWS).
I had hoped to share a different outcome, but unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be this time. Nevertheless, my search for an internship goes on, now with greater wisdom and determination.
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