I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon in Nov 2012
Interview
Prior to my first interview I looked up reviews on Glassdoor and realized that it would be highly technical. I was honest about my experience and technical expertise and let my interviewer know upfront that I wasn't an OO programmer. He said that I didn't need to be, but that I needed to be able to understand the architecture around it . There were a lot of questions on Agile. The interview was pleasant and he seemed like a very cool person. After the interview I actually thought to myself "Wow, if I work at Amazon I hope I will get to work with him." I was emailed a couple of days later for a second interview with another Amazon employee.
The second interview didn't go as well. The interviewer seemed a bit full of himself and had a chip on his shoulder from the start. Personally, I thought that he was a bit chauvinistic. As he described how the team works, the different rolls, and team member responsibilities he referred to each person as "he"---- "his responsibility is this", "then this person, he does this", "the approval goes to him", etc. Finally, I said "he or she, right?".
He presented me with a technical scenario but it didn't make much sense. I figured that it was one of their trick/brainteaser type questions I have read about from other online reviews . When I thought out-loud about the scenario, he quickly changed the story. This made me think that he didn't fully understand the technical aspect of the scenario he was presenting. He had only asked me a few questions before the interview was cut for questions.
I was disappointed after my second interview. I envisioned Amazon as a very collaborative company where employees work to leverage technology and innovation (a Disney land for computer geeks). The second interviewer painted a very different picture --where TPM's are more like release managers, working independently and without interaction from other teams.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
You are half way through a project and the backlog changes, but no new requirements have been added and velocity has been steady. How do you ensure that the project is released on time.