My Amazon SDE/Developer Advocate Interview Experience | 63 LPA | Bangalore

Overview

A candidate participated in an interview process for a Developer Advocate position at Amazon in Bangalore, with a potential compensation of 63 LPA. Despite thorough preparation and relevant experience, the candidate did not proceed beyond the initial HR round. This document details the preparation, interview experience, and key takeaways from the process.

Interview Rounds

Round 1: HR Screening (20 Minutes)

The initial round commenced with an introduction from the HR representative, followed by a detailed self-introduction from the candidate. The conversation covered the candidate's professional background, clarifying a discrepancy in years of experience as reflected on the resume. The HR representative elaborated on the role's responsibilities and the team's current projects. The candidate inquired about role expectations, the tech stack, and team structure. Although the candidate felt the round progressed well, a second interview was not scheduled.

Preparation Questions

Before the interview, the candidate prepared answers for the following questions:

1. Fit for Head of Developer Role: The candidate highlighted experience in leading and building communities, citing involvement in school clubs, NCC (National Cadet Corps), and various tech initiatives during college. This included conducting webinars, hosting competitions, mentoring in hackathons (including winning the UiPath Hackathon and a Covid-themed hackathon), contributing to coding clubs, and creating content. The candidate also mentioned their ambassadorship with GeeksForGeeks, extensive article writing, YouTube content creation, LinkedIn community building (21K+ followers), and mentoring of professionals.
2. Role Alignment: The candidate expressed passion for technology, community building, and education, emphasizing a love for content creation, simplifying technology, and fostering developer ecosystems. The role appealed due to its blend of leadership, mentorship, creation, and scalability.
3. Understanding of AWS: The candidate defined Amazon Web Services (AWS) as Amazon's cloud platform, enabling users to rent computing power and services (servers, storage, databases, AI tools) without managing physical hardware. They highlighted the pay-as-you-go model and its suitability for both startups and enterprises.

Key Takeaways

• Proactive Communication: The candidate emphasizes the importance of following up with recruiters to obtain interview results for closure, even when responses are delayed.
• Rejection Handling: The candidate adopts a strategy of assuming rejection in the absence of updates to manage expectations and move forward.
• Preparation is Key: Thorough preparation is essential. The candidate’s prep focused on aligning their experience with the role's requirements and demonstrating a strong understanding of Amazon's business (AWS) and the specific role's responsibilities.