Amazon SDE 2 Interview Experience 2025: Preparation, Rounds, Questions & Tips

What if I told you that rejection can actually be a stepping stone to success? In the world of Amazon SDE 2 interviews, learning from failures can ultimately lead to breakthroughs.

My Journey Through Rejections

Opening my inbox in March 2025 felt like a monumental moment. I discovered an email that held the promise of change: my Amazon interview schedule. Yet before that, I had endured countless rejections from various companies—daily hopes dashed by “We regret to inform you.” Each evening, I burned the midnight oil grinding through LeetCode problems, studying systems design concepts, and building personal projects. I would ask myself, “What if tomorrow brings an interview opportunity? Am I ready?” That recurring question drove me to improve incrementally and kept my motivation alive.

“What if tomorrow brings an interview opportunity? Am I ready?”

How I Finally Landed the Interview

I had applied to Amazon over seven times without any response—no referrals, no internal connections, just my resume and a dose of perseverance. My application strategy was simple: I monitored LinkedIn daily for new Amazon postings, checked if the role matched my skill set, then applied directly on the careers page without obsessing over status updates. One afternoon, a recruiter called me with an assessment link that had to be completed within a week. It included two DSA problems, system design multiple-choice questions, and behavioral working style MCQs. With a blend of anxious excitement, I tackled the assessment, solving one problem fully and covering six out of fourteen test cases on the second, and then submitted my best system design and behavioral answers. Within days, I received the invite to my first screening round.

Diving into Interview Rounds

Amazon’s SDE 2 interview process spans four distinct stages—two algorithm rounds, a system design evaluation, and a behavioral “bar raiser” check. Over more than three hours of live interviews, the focus shifts from coding speed to architectural thinking and finally to leadership principles. Here’s a breakdown of each round, what happened during my interviews, and lessons you can apply.

Round 1: Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA)

The first technical screen lasted 45 minutes, with about 30 minutes dedicated to solving a functional DSA problem. I was presented with a tree-based challenge similar to serializing and deserializing trees. After a quick introduction by an interviewer with over 15 years of experience, I read the prompt aloud, asked clarifying questions, and discussed potential approaches. I got stuck twice, requested hints, and felt a pang of regret—but I pushed on and delivered a working solution around the 38-minute mark. We then reviewed time and space complexity and even touched on a couple of behavioral questions in the remaining time.

Key lesson: Always pause to understand requirements, articulate brute-force ideas, and explain why you choose a particular algorithm. Interviewers want to see your thought process more than a perfect solution.

Round 2: Another DSA Challenge

In my second coding round, I faced a graph problem reminiscent of the “rotten oranges” pattern. This session felt smoother because I had practiced numerous graph questions on LeetCode. I swiftly identified the BFS approach, clarified edge cases, and coded a complete solution within 35 minutes. After walking through time and space complexity, the interviewer asked about my past work and preferred coding practices. This round boosted my confidence significantly heading into the tougher stages.

Round 3: System Design

The system design round was an hour-long deep dive into building a scalable Uber-like service. As someone who had never tackled a full system design interview, I struggled to outline core components, trade-offs, and scaling strategies such as caching patterns, horizontal versus vertical scaling, and load balancing. By the end, I had covered roughly 40% of an ideal solution. While disappointing, the interviewer provided a roadmap for improving my system design skills. I left with clear guidance on resources and a personalized study path that I’ve been following for months.

Round 4: The Bar Raiser

The final bar raiser—a 30-minute behavioral round—focused entirely on Amazon’s 16 leadership principles. I used the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) format to answer questions like “Tell me about a time you solved a complex problem with limited data” and “Which leadership principle resonates most with you?” Because I had prepared responses based on insights from LeetCode discussions, I navigated this round confidently. A week later, I learned that my system design performance had fallen short, and Amazon passed on my candidacy.

Key Takeaways and Final Thoughts

Preparing for an Amazon SDE 2 interview is a marathon, not a sprint. Each rejection and every hard-won success added to my resilience and sharpened my skills. Here are the most critical insights I gained:

• Learning from Rejection: Rejections aren’t endpoints—they’re feedback loops. Analyze each outcome and focus on incremental improvement.
• Effective Communication & Thought Process: Demonstrate clarity in your approach. Explain your reasoning before writing a line of code.
• Preparing for Technical Challenges: System design demands as much, if not more, preparation than DSA for mid-level roles.
• Communicate your reasoning clearly throughout each round to showcase problem-solving skills.

Embrace every setback, refine your strategy, and stay curious. Your next big breakthrough could be just around the corner. Have an Amazon interview experience to share or questions about SDE 2 preparation? Drop a comment below!