Hi folks! Thanks to everyone here who helped me out. I just got hired as a Junior Frontend Developer at Amazon in NYC and thought I’d share what happened during my interview process.
I finished my Masters degree in December 2024 and was struggling to find software developer jobs, especially frontend ones. Applied to Amazon’s new grad frontend role on January 31st. Here’s what went down:
-
February 3rd - Got an online coding test with two JS problems (building a dropdown menu and some other UI component) plus a personality assessment
-
February 7th - Finished the test and they asked me to book a phone interview
-
February 14th (Phone Interview) - First half hour was behavior questions (answer directly using STAR format with real numbers). Second half hour was coding an image slider (talk through your approach, write some code, doesn’t need to actually work). Did well enough to move forward
-
February 21st (Main Interviews) - Only got two rounds instead of three because they couldn’t find someone for the middle slot
-
First Round: Orange rotting algorithm problem plus lots of behavioral follow-up questions. My behavioral answers weren’t great and I felt pretty anxious after
-
Second Round: Three behavioral questions plus building a task manager app with two simple extras
-
-
February 26th (Last Interview) - Interviewer was really relaxed, asked four behavioral questions. Having extra time helped me practice better answers. Technical was a tricky array problem where I gave both simple and efficient solutions
-
February 28th - Got the offer!
What I learned:
-
Good interviewers usually give you hints if things are going well
-
For entry level roles, soft skills matter just as much as coding. Use STAR method but keep it simple
-
They care more about your thinking process than perfect syntax
Hope this helps other people going through interviews!