Failed Amazon Frontend Developer Interview - My Experience

Frontend
1

Got turned down for Amazon Frontend Engineer role after final interviews

Just wanted to share my experience since it might help others preparing for similar positions. Here’s what happened during my interview process.

Initial Assessment

Got the online test in early 2025. Had to build a select menu component and a contact form. Both were pretty standard frontend challenges.

Technical Phone Call

Talked with a team member about a project I was proud of. Then coded a tabbed interface component live. This went smoothly overall.

Final Interview Round (5 sessions)

Algorithm Challenge: Got the water trapping problem which was harder than expected. Started with the complex solution instead of basic approach. Interviewer had to redirect me to begin with simpler logic first. Managed to explain the concept but couldn’t complete the implementation.

UI Coding 1: Built a star rating widget using React. This was familiar territory so I finished without issues. Also discussed handling incomplete requirements.

Leadership Discussion: Four behavioral questions including one about standing firm when the whole team disagreed. My prepared examples didn’t fit perfectly. Had to think on the spot and later asked to share a better story about disagreeing with my manager.

System Architecture: Designed a mobile math quiz app. Really enjoyed this part and the interviewer seemed impressed with my approach.

UI Coding 2: Created a relative time display component (“2 minutes ago” etc) that updates automatically. Explained using setTimeout for re-rendering but didn’t finish coding it completely.

The Result

Recruiter called to say no offer. Frontend engineers gave strong feedback but the algorithm round and leadership questions weren’t strong enough. Need better behavioral stories apparently.

Tough outcome but the job market is challenging right now. Even smaller companies are sending quick rejections. Hope sharing this helps other frontend folks preparing for big tech interviews.

2

Thanks for writing this up so thoroughly. Water trapping always trips people up when they jump straight to the optimal solution. I did the same thing at another company - overcomplicated a string problem instead of starting with brute force first. Interviewers care more about seeing how you think than whether you instantly know the most efficient algorithm. For behavioral questions, sounds like you were close but needed more concrete examples. I prepped stories using the STAR method and kept backup examples for each leadership principle. Getting strong technical feedback means your frontend skills are solid - that’s the hardest part to improve quickly.

3

damn, that sounds rough! thanks for sharing! i’m curious tho, when you say the algorithim part was weak, was it more about not finishing or the way you started? also, did you hit up leetcode a lot or lean more towards front-end stuff?

4

Oof, that sucks. Leadership questions are what trip up most people in big tech interviews. You can grind algorithms, but behavioral stuff’s harder since they want really specific examples. At least your frontend skills were solid - that’ll help with other roles!