I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in Jul 2013
Interview
The interview is extremely long (7.5hrs). You will meet with roughly 10 or so folks. Not all of them will be from your team, department or business line. They will all ask roughly the same type of questions, so ensure that you have multiple answers. Most of the people will be very nice, and you will get one or two people that are either just trying to prove that you are incompetent or culturally not a good fit. They will meet with you either 1, 2 or 3 at one time depending on how large the room. Must remember to answer with S.T.A.R methodology.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA) in Nov 2012
Interview
The interviewing process is very well organized. You will have your first contact with the HR representative, then you will have a screening interview with either the hiring manager or a senior peer. Then you'll be asked to submit samples of your work. You will be brought to the location you're supposed to work for an in-person interview. The team of interviewers consist of hiring manager, peers and a senior manager. You will be interviewed for about 4 hours and it's a behavioral interview based on the leadership principles of Amazon. Each interviewer usually interviews you based on 2 leadership principles. So, do your homework and research on the leadership skills. If will be evaluated based on your skills and if you will be able to raise the bar. The process is almost flawless and you need to be prepared with good examples and how you made an impact on the companies you worked for. And please don't wear a suit as people will find it very odd. Dress business casual for your interview as the environment is super casual.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
If you are interviewing for a SDE position, you will be required to pass a programming test. Other teams also give candidates some sort of test related to the job you're applying. The questions are based on the STAR model, being Situation/Task/Actions/ Results. Here is a sample hard question: "Tell me about time you had to learn something outside your comfort zone in order to drive results for your organization or to adapt to a change in the market, organization or other catalyst."