My Amazon Programmer Analyst Interview Experience

#interview #softwareengineering #amazon #programming

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.” – Sun Tzu

Landing an interview at Amazon is a dream for many developers. For me, it all started with Amazon HackOn, a hackathon that opened doors to an Online Assessment (OA) for non-SDE roles (Programmer Analyst, Data Engineer, System Engineer, etc.).

Based on my OA performance, I got shortlisted for the Programmer Analyst role. This role is particularly interesting because it sits close to SDE — with good performance, you can transition to SDE in the future.

And so began the journey: an OA, two technical interviews, and a lot of waiting...

📝 The Online Assessment

The OA had 61 questions total:

1 DSA coding problem
60 MCQs covering almost every CS fundamental

Topics covered:

Data Structures & Algorithms
Blackbox Testing
DBMS & SQL
Operating Systems
Computer Networks
Python programming and more

👉 In short, it was a test of both breadth and depth.

🧑‍💻 Technical Interview 1

First 10 mins: Project discussion
Q1: Level Order Traversal of Binary Tree (array representation).
- Solved it without queue → space optimal solution ✅
Q2: Modify to ZigZag order traversal.
- Just 2 lines change, smooth ✅
Q3 (approach only): Valid Parentheses using stacks.

CS Fundamentals asked:

Process vs Threads
ACID Properties
Deadlocks
DNS basics

My takeaway: Keep fundamentals fresh — they will come up.

🔥 Technical Interview 2

This one was tougher, with the interviewer’s camera off (extra pressure).

Q1: Variant of Unbounded Knapsack Problem.
- Built a recursive solution, but dry run took time.
Q2: Debugging “Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters.”
- Found 1–2 bugs and pointed out inefficiency.

By the end, I knew I had done well on the DSA side, even if the pressure was high.

⏳ The Result

There are moments in life where you give your absolute best, make no mistakes, and still walk away empty-handed.

And honestly, it reminded me of Virat Kohli in the 2016 World T20 semifinal vs West Indies. He batted like a dream — 89* in a pressure cooker, and then… the bowlers let India down.

Kohli himself bowled the final over, conceded the winning runs, and walked off with that helpless look: sometimes you do everything right, but destiny has other plans.

When I opened my result mail, it felt the same:

“You are waitlisted. Final decision within 90 days.”

Yep, anticlimactic. But here’s the thing about Virat — his story didn’t end in 2016. Eight years later, in World Cup 2024, he came full circle: scored a gritty knock in the final, lifted the trophy, grabbed Man of the Match, and signed off in style.

That’s the real lesson: God always has a bigger plan. Your IPL 2016 may have an IPL 2025. Your WT20 2016 might be waiting for a WT20 2024.

Wins belong to God, losses are ours to learn from.

So for now, I’ll take my waitlist like Kohli took that 2016 semifinal — smile, shrug, and get back to the nets. Because when the comeback comes, it’ll be worth the wait.

💭 Final Thoughts

The Amazon Programmer Analyst process tested me across breadth (CS fundamentals) and depth (DSA coding). While the waitlist isn’t a final “yes,” it’s also not a “no.” It’s an opportunity to stay hungry, stay prepared, and come back stronger.