How to get a UX job at Amazon

Disclaimer: These opinions are my own and don’t necessarily reflect the views of my employees, manager, or Amazon as a company.

Interviewing at Amazon, or really any large tech company, can be a pretty daunting process, but with the right preparation, mindset, and approach it’s a totally manageable process. As a hiring manager, one thing I’m particularly disappointed by is how many potentially good candidates come through the pipeline without preparing, taking the feedback from recruiting to heart, and show up ready to stand and deliver on the day of an interview. The truth is, we can’t make an offer to a candidate based off of personal referrals, previous titles, degrees, or how well they may have done in a previous company; instead its a data-driven process based on what we see or hear on the day of the interview. Lucky for you, dear reader, I’m going to impart my knowledge of how to do well interviewing at Amazon based off of my 70+ interviews and ~5 years of experience.

Interview process

• Resume reviews: Yes we really do read these, so please make sure to format clearly, and spell check thoroughly! I look for clear, large scale project ownership that talks about what the business impact was. And I look at your portfolio too, so please include your password on your resume. I’m not going to spend an hour phone screening unless I see high quality UX work samples at this stage.

  • Hot tip: The key to a good UX portfolio is good process. I’m less interested in lots of beautiful visual design artifacts than I am seeing the process of how you got there. So please, save the floating UI elevation graphics for Dribble.

• First phone screen: Typically an initial phone screen for UX focuses on ensuring that you exceed expectations for putting your customers and users at the center of your process and can drive your projects end-to-end. This can be tricky if you work on projects with a lot of other designers, so get your stories ready: what were you responsible for? What actions did you take? What user research and HCD methods did you employ? What were the outcomes? Also note: we’re looking for exceeds expectations - not meets, not ‘maybe they can learn or be taught’, instead its ‘is this person already exhibiting high quality HCD process?’

  • Hot tip: if you’ve spent a lot of your career at an agency or consultancy, we’re not thinking of your customer as your client, they’re more like stakeholders. Instead, what is the end customer value?

• Second phone screen: We want you to show your work and talk about it! Some folks do want to look at work in the first phone screen, but we definitely want to go deep on this in the second phone screen. Here we’re looking to see that the scope, quality and complexity of work blows us away, along with clear storytelling. While this will be informal and 1:1, practicing in advance isn’t a bad idea.

  • Hot tip: if you’re inexperienced, or just out of practice on interviewing, don’t start with your dream company. It may take a few months to land the job you really want, but hang in there and give yourself the time, space, and patience to find and prepare for what you want.

• Onsite (Virtual or IRL): The final interview with Amazon can be daunting and stressful; it takes a full day, includes a formal portfolio review, a white boarding session, and several interviews with partners and seasoned vets on the team. Please don’t freak out! We’re people too, everyone gets nervous, and not everyone is the most natural public speaker. Instead I find that the best way to come in confident and ready is to practice and craft the examples and work to show your best self.

  • Hot tip: if you’re not ready for your onsite, reschedule it! We get it, life happens, and sometimes there is a false sense of urgency that the interview date is un-moveable, but I promise no one will care if you reschedule (assuming its not at the last minute). It’s better to interview 2-3 weeks later calm, prepped and ready, rather than panicked and scrambling because you had some other work deadline you were focused on up until the day before.

How to prepare

Phone screens + interviews

We want to hear specific examples from work or school that have a clear narrative. Commonly we refer to the STAR method: 1) what was the situation, 2) what was the role or task you were responsible for and who else was involved, 3) what were the actions you took, and 4) what was the outcome or results? Think about the past few years of relevant experience you have: current or previous jobs, internships, freelance, non-profit work, or large projects you did at university. What are the 6-8 stories you want to prepare? Write them down, and go back and refresh your memory on the metrics and details.

Presentation

We typically like to see 3 projects, but 2 is okay for junior level UX roles, or if one is really large and involved. Think about how to show a variety of work: different companies or industries, different design problems, different research methods, etc. I don’t need to see the standard double diamond design diagram, instead I want to see how you specifically solve hard problems. What tradeoffs or constraints did you consider? What design iterations did you make? How did the customer respond? What did you learn?

This portion of the interview involves everyone on the hiring loop, and is really important to nail down. A good idea is to practice it a few times in front of other people, ideally with someone more experienced or who works at said company who can give you feedback.

Whiteboard

A core part of the UX interview is the whiteboard interview, which is a design exercise where you’ll be given an open ended prompt about designing a net new product that can be about anything, and usually isn’t at all specific to a business that Amazon is even in. I’ve seen plenty of folks get nervous about this, but there’s no need, as this test can be conquered by covering a few key things:

1. What clarifying questions do you ask? What initial assumptions do you make? Do you consider a variety of solutions or modalities (mobile, TV, desktop, audio, IoT, something else?) to start?

2. Do you consider who your customer is? You won’t be able to do user research, but what research would you like to do?

3. Do you consider constraints? Edge cases? Non-happy paths?

4. Do you consider alternative design solutions? Are you able to justify or explain what approach may be best based off of what you know?

5. Did you manage your time well? This is only an hour long exercise, so it’s pretty important to keep an eye on the clock and stay focused on what’s most important. Things like perfect straight lines or the exact UI labels are details that can be figured out later.

Finally, this is not a perfect test, but to do your best the key is practice, practice, practice. Make sure you know what tools you’ll use if its virtual and that you’ve tested it out in advance. Better yet, run test prompts with an experienced friend and have them moderate and give you feedback. Alternatively, try to do this in an interview that’s not your top company choice somewhere else first.

FAQs

1. I’m great at my current role, can I just wing it in the interview?

   1. Probably not! I’ve seen many people try, but I’ve never seen anyone succeed. Show that you care and want the job by showing up ready.

2. What are the best tools for virtual whiteboard?

   1. Its up to you, I’ve seen Invision Freehand or Miro work well, but I’ve also seen people do great with a stack of paper and a pen with a well positioned camera. If you have a spot you can point your camera at a real whiteboard that’s great, or make one out of poster paper. There’s flexibility here typically, but sometimes tools like Illustrator or Sketch can be problematic as theres too much functionality that can feel distracting, or like the UI needs to be perfect.

3. Do I need references?

   1. Sometimes, but not typically for most IC design roles at Amazon.

4. What about assessments?

   1. Not every team uses this, including mine, but for those who do it may be because there was no portfolio or password to portfolio - so make sure to give us your password please and thank you!

5. What makes for a successful designer at Amazon?

   1. This is a whole other blog entry, but again show me how your Ownership, Customer Obsession, and ability to do great work!