The software engineer’s guide to the Amazon behavioral interview

Sr. SDE (L6) @ Amazon; everything expressed here is my personal opinion; I do not speak for my company.

On the whole, I think the article is good. I would rather they quantified the bit about "most Amazonians seem to get satisfaction from making a behavioral round intense". The interviews I conduct are not about my satisfaction at all; they're about gathering the data I need to make an inclined / not-inclined decision.

Data and impact / Talk about "I", not "we" / Be as technical as possible -- I ask candidates up front to emphasize these things, and I remind them as necessary throughout the interview if it seems like they're wandering. "I" not "we" is particularly hard for some people, because they reasonably want to come across as a team player.

Name-checking leadership principles -- I don't mind this in and of itself; it can be helpful to have a common framework to discuss the relevant concepts. But candidates should not just use them as a shibboleth; they need to demonstrate that they understand what a given LP actually means in practice, and provide data about how they've applied it to their past work. Casually working in the phrase "customer obsession" three times is not going to make Andy Jassy appear in a puff of smoke and offer you the job on the spot.

"Amazon is known for its competitive workplace culture, and most Amazonians seem to get satisfaction from making a behavioral round intense, much more so than most interviewers at other companies."

Ugh. No thank you! What a nasty culture that sounds like.

I suppose this kind of confrontational interview must be an effective way to filter out the people who would prefer to collaborate with teammates at work, instead of competing with rivals.

Not the place for me apparently