Amazon data engineer interviews are difficult, with a range of complex questions. If you make it all the way to the final onsite round, you’ve still only got about a 20% chance of receiving an offer.
The good news is that the right preparation can help you beat that statistic. To maximize your chances of success, weve put together the ultimate guide, complete with insider advice and 50+ example questions.
1 What interviews to expect
Let’s take a look at these steps in more detail.
First, recruiters will look at your resume and assess if your experience matches the open position. This is the most competitive step in the process, as millions of candidates do not make it past this stage.
If you’re looking for expert feedback on your resume, you can get input from our team of ex-FAANG recruiters, who will cover what achievements to focus on (or ignore), how to fine tune your bullet points, and more.
If you do have a connection to someone at Amazon, it can be really helpful to get an employee referral to the internal recruiting team, as it may increase your chances of getting into the interview process.
Some candidates will receive an invitation for an online test before moving on to the first-round calls. These are more common for internship and junior positions, but may appear in experienced positions as well.
This assessment will focus your technical skills, requiring a strong understanding of SQL querying and some coding. There may be a question on data modeling as well. You’ll likely have a deadline by which you have to complete the assessment, but the test itself is not timed.
If you pass the online assessment, you’ll move on to your first calls with Amazon interviewers.
The next step includes one or two calls with Amazon interviewers via Amazon Chime, which last 45-60 minutes each. These may take place over video or be audio-only.
The first-round interviews will include a mix of technical and behavioral questions. You may have one interview entirely focused on SQL and coding questions, followed by a second interview that focuses on behavioral questions and data modeling. Or you may have one interview that combines all of these.
You’ll typically be doing your coding using a simple text editor like LiveCode, where you’re unable to run the code or see any static analysis. While most candidates chose to code in Python, you may use a coding language of your choice.
Your last step in the Amazon data engineer interview process is the final onsite or virtual interview loop. This will include four to six separate rounds, which last 45-60 minutes each.
The interviews will be one-on-ones with a mix of people from the team you’re applying to join, including data engineers, software engineers, hiring managers, and a senior executive called the Bar Raiser.
Bar Raisers are not associated with the team you’re applying for. Instead, they focus on overall candidate quality rather than specific team needs. They get special training to make sure Amazon’s hiring standards stay high, so they are a big barrier between you and the job offer.
Expect a higher emphasis on behavioral questions at Amazon relative to other tech companies. Each interviewer is usually assigned two or three of Amazon’s 16 leadership principles to focus on during your interview. We’ll dive deeper into the questions to expect in Amazon data engineer interviews in section 2.
For more information from Amazon about these interviews, take a look at their interview prep materials.
Interview process and timeline
What’s the Amazon data engineer interview process and timeline? It usually takes around one to three months and follows the steps below.
How to prepare
Now that you know what questions to expect, lets dive into how to prepare. Below, weve listed the four steps we recommend taking to prepare as efficiently as possible.