I was initially approached by an AWS recruiter via LinkedIn, who encouraged me to pursue the TAM position, given that my background appeared as a great fit. I replied back to her with my availability for a phone screening.
Initial part of the process was extremely smooth; the recruiters were courteous, helpful, prompt and friendly.
Unfortunately, that impression was completely ruined by the person running the technical interview over the phone.
The technical screening went horribly. English is not my first language either, but the interviewer had such a heavy accent that made the conversation very difficult. I had to ask him to repeat many questions several times. He was talking over the speakerphone that complicated things even further. He was also distracted, appeared to be typing. There were a lot of awkward pauses on the interviewer’s side and the conversation did not seem to flow. There was a lot of microphone static noise and at some point I asked him to dial in via phone.
The Amazon Interviewers are like a BOT reading a script with a heavy accent. If you have a solid technical operations background in a major company, this position is not for you. If you answer something in depth that is beyond their understanding or out of the script they start with the next question.