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 ====== Issue 2012 - September ======
+===== Amazon - on-site interview experience =====
+Tags: Amazon, Dublin, Ireland, AWS, interview, onsite, on-site
+Please note this is a back-post I promised myself to do. I don't want to brag about my on-site interview
+at Amazon. But I've read quite slander of Amazon for its interview process. I haven't re-checked for blogs on this matter since,
+so it's possible there are success stories on intranets now. I don't feel like checking now.
+Also, if you're looking for specific questions asked during the interview, you won't find it here.
+Get ready for unexpected and as much as possible ;-)
+The reason for this post is after reading all that slander and how dreadful Amazon's interview
+process is, especially on-site part, I've given up on preparations and was like: "If somebody acts
+like a prick, I'm out of the door immediately". This turned out to be a mistake proven right in the
+beginning. You see, I have a problem with writing up on whiteboard during interviews no matter where
+and what it's(perhaps I'm too shy person?). It's not hard to guess what the very first thing was:
+"So, write me a program which does this and that. Oh, and use whiteboard to do it". Right.
+Anyway, I want to say big thanks to people from Amazon I've met with during my interview. Not only
+for a great interview and time, but new ideas and broadening my horizons here and there.
+Without further delays, here we go.
+----
+==== Interview process in short ====
+  - phone call with hiring manager ~ 60 minutes
+  - phone call with different person ~ 60 minutes
+  - on-site interview which is 6 hours straight of interviews with different people
+  - should some deficiencies be found during on-site interview, you might be given coding exercise
+Now, let me note as far as I remember both phone calls I had, both were on time(say +couple minutes off max).
+I've read about phone interviews being off by more than couple minutes and what not. Not in my case.
+==== On-site interview ====
+On-site interview is pretty straightforward and simple. If you come in early you might be given tour through
+the offices(I guess I didn't come early enough :-)). Then HR will lead you into conference room and off you
+go. You have 60 minutes with each person and topics and even style of interview will differ from
+person to person. You might even be asked to write something on whiteboard. No, that's wrong. You're going to be
+asked to write something on whiteboard. Oh, and somewhere in the middle is interview/lunch with your hiring
+manager.
+Now, that wasn't anything new and I'm sure you can read it elsewhere in greater details. But there are couple
+things I want to talk about. First of all, all these people were caring. How am I? Do I want to take a break?
+Do I need anything? Yes, given some blog posts this is rather unusual!
+As for writing code on whiteboard, don't horse around. Don't forget to add all checks and stuff like
+''use strict; use warnings;'' if writing Perl code, for example. Yes, it does matter.
+As for interview/lunch and 6 hours of interview. Yes, lunch is a bit more awkward than your regular lunch with colleagues
+discussing work-related stuff. Yes, you'll have to eat while you're not talking and be ready to respond. But hey,
+come on, are you there for interview or lunch? And you knew it was coming! Stop complaining. And 6 hours flew by,
+at least for me. Yes, I was quite happy to be outside once done. But I had far worse streak in TurnovFree.net days.
+Are you still complaining? :-)
+I recommend you to take Coca Cola with you or something. Something with sugar will keep you on your toes and will help you to
+fight hunger, should you become hungry. Glass of water is, was, there should you needed it. I haven't exploited
+hospitality any further, thus I don't know.
+==== Coding exercise ====
+Due to my incapability to show much at whiteboard and lack of thinking, I've been given coding exercise. If I
+remember correctly, I had 24 hours to complete it. And that's all information I'm going to give you. Oh, just
+don't worry and use your head.
+==== Was the interview easy? ====
+Is any interview easy? And frankly, if it was, I'd be disappointed.
+==== Have you been offered a permanent job/contract? ====
+Yes, although not exactly position I interviewed for. Actually, two positions.
+==== Have you accepted the offer? ====
+No. It wasn't meant to be at that time.
+==== Closure ====
+You might think I'm being positive about the whole thing only because I made it through the interview.
+And that I would probably slander Amazon if I didn't. Well, you couldn't be more wrong. First of all,
+I made this promise right after my interview ended, in front of the Amazon HQ in Dublin. I didn't know
+results back then and I actually thought I've failed. Also, I have failed at Google interview, but I didn't
+go off slandering Google for it. It was because I'm dumb(not that I got much better). :-)
+And remember, it's about people you meet. Maybe I was just lucky. Anyway, good luck to you!