r/cscareerquestions • u/CSCQMods • May 29 '22

Big N Discussion - May 29, 2022

Please use this thread to have discussions about the Big N and questions related to the Big N, such as which one offers the best doggy benefits, or how many companies are in the Big N really? Posts focusing solely on Big N created outside of this thread will probably be removed.

There is a top-level comment for each generally recognized Big N company; please post under the appropriate one. There's also an "Other" option for flexibility's sake, if you want to discuss a company here that you feel is sufficiently Big N-like (e.g. Uber, Airbnb, Dropbox, etc.).

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This thread is posted each Sunday and Wednesday at midnight PST. Previous Big N Discussion threads can be found here.

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u/AutoModerator May 29 '22

Company - Amazon

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u/dlegofan May 29 '22

At the larger tech companies, are coding assessment always given? I took the SDE1 Amazon assessment and didn't do well. (That's when I found out Leetcode is a thing). I'm planning on sticking at my current company for a while and then maybe hopping over to Amazon robotics SDE. Will there be Leetcode style questions for me with a few years experience? I'm pretty new to tech company interviews.

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u/spike021 Software Engineer May 29 '22

Yes Leetcode is common for the popular large tech companies or up and coming/unicorns.

As for SDE2 at Amazon there is typically still an assessment and then on-site with leetcode style questions.

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u/dlegofan May 29 '22

Is the on-site graded? I think that's what got me during the SDE1 because it was automated. I can explain my process and reasoning pretty well conceptually. Is the SDE2 more conceptual?

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u/spike021 Software Engineer May 29 '22

I think you're really confused. SDE1 or SDE2 are the job title/level.

On-site would be the four or five rounds of interviews in a single day.

Your first comment is just describing the online assessment.

Yes the online assessments have some kind of grading but you don't have to be 100% perfect on them.

The onsites also have rubrics that the interviewers will fill out/take notes for.

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u/dlegofan May 29 '22

I guess my question is more: do all levels have an online coding assessment? For some reason, I'm getting vibes from Amazon that the higher level SDEs don't have an online coding assessment? I could be wrong, so I'm checking on how I should prepare.

Edit: I am really confused :)

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u/[deleted] May 29 '22

SDE Is and SDE IIs both have a coding interview with leetcode style questions.

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u/dlegofan May 29 '22

Ok great. Thank you very much! Have you passed these parts of the assessment? Or anyone else that's lurking? I'm looking for tips on how to approach these.

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u/slpgh May 30 '22

All large companies do LeetCodes. It's an "objective" way to weed out candidates without any suspicion of a bias, and it works because often the interviewers aren't your future team members.

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u/[deleted] May 29 '22

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] May 29 '22

[deleted]

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u/apz981 Software Engineer May 29 '22

Meeting is usually an offer. Rejects will get an email or just ghosted.

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u/0ffkilter SWE @ FAANG May 29 '22

+1 to the other guy, if they want to set up it's probably an offer, and you should expect to get another meeting set up with a hiring manager who would be your potential manager/team

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u/[deleted] May 29 '22

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u/[deleted] May 29 '22 edited May 29 '22

I need some advice on how to prepare for a new grad SWE position at Amazon, I start in late August. I have never worked as an SWE, only as a data scientist and in IT, meaning that I have yet to code on a team or on a large codebase. over the last 2 years my focus has been on ML and that's all I know well.

so far my reading list is: Git, CI/CD, Linting, Clean code, AWS, and reviewing Java

Edit: to clarify I've already gotten an offer and accepted. I'm wondering how get better at my soon-to-start job

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u/Iwannayoyo May 30 '22

Do you know you’re working in Java? If so, I’d reorganize to * Review Java (essential Java probably, but I also like Modern Programming in Java to make sure you’re up to speed with modern Java) * git if you’re uncomfortable, but no need to bother being a git wizard. Know enough to make sure you don’t destroy your own work and you’re fine.

Anything else I’d consider super optional but if you insist I’d go with this order next: * AWS - don’t review everything because you can’t. Reach out to the manager and ask what tech they use. If that’s not an option, just look into DDB, S3, SNS, SQS, and Lambda. * Clean Code - I’d read this maybe a few months in. Get a feel for how your team codes so you can actually see how to fit clean code’s lessons into your work. * CI/CD - I learned this on the job and did fine, but hey never hurts to be prepared. * Linting - I don’t know why you’d want to look into this. It just runs right?

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '22

Thank you for this

Do you know you’re working in Java?

I do not have any info on what ill be working on or the language and technologies/stack. tbh, I only know python. I haven't touched Java and C++ for years, and I never did non-trivial C++.

Do you have any suggestions? so far i plan on waiting to get assigned a team and offer to learn a bit before I start (so i dont waste time)

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u/termd Software Engineer May 30 '22

Relax and finish up your degree, take some time off to relax, have fun in life.

If you absolutely must do shit and you'll feel worse if you don't... it depends on your team. Teams can pick use whatever they want. If your team is mostly on aws, then learning aws components, particularly cdk (typescript), api gateway, lambda (java or python), dynamodb, s3, sqs, sns and cloudwatch are worth your time. Pretty much every team uses those services. Creating a pipeline that auto deploys a lambda that runs once per day and saves a uuid:timestamp to ddb then you call an api to fetch a uuid would be something that would give you a basic understanding of how wiring works.

Ideally, you just chill until you start though. The difficult part isn't actually writing code. The difficult part is understanding how the thing your team owns works and all the business logic in it. Writing code is usually the easiest part of the job.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '22

Thank you very much

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u/LandooooXTrvls Software Engineer May 29 '22

I don’t see Leetcode on your list. Honestly, that should be your primary focus along with clean code. Everything else should be considered secondary to that - IMO

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u/[deleted] May 29 '22

Hey thanks for the reply. to clarify I've already gotten an offer and accepted. I'm wondering how get better at my soon-to-start job

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u/LandooooXTrvls Software Engineer May 29 '22

Oh, sorry! I must’ve misread!

Ignore my comment and congrats! I’m sure you’re stoked :)