Recently I have seen some interview questions related to Amazon like:Can't I use Java at Amazon? Actually… This could be a misconception about Amazon interviews! Then here is a combination of my research and experience to share the requirements of Amazon's Technical interview on programming language and why this misunderstanding occurs! And how we should use JAVA to successfully pass the Amazon interview!
What programming languages are required for Amazon interviews?
Amazon usually does not force candidates to use a specific programming language in the interview. Candidates can choose the language they are best at! For example: JAVA, Python, C++, C#, etc…
Amazon's interviewers focus more on a candidate's mastery of algorithms and data structures, as well as their problem-solving mindset, rather than a specific programming language.
The official job posting and interview guide clearly states that they want candidates to use their “most familiar language” because it allows candidates to focus more on demonstrating programming logic and algorithmic ability without making mistakes due to unfamiliarity with the language. JAVA is perfectly acceptable for Amazon interviews!
Why is there a misunderstanding that “JAVA cannot be used”?
Some candidates mentioned online that Amazon's internal development languages are mainly Python and JavaScript, while JAVA is not the most widely used language. So, some candidates therefore feel that using JAVA will not be favored by the interviewers.
This misconception may stem from the following:
Relevance of internal tech stack: it is true that some Amazon teams use Python and JavaScript as their primary development languages, but this does not affect the use of other languages at the interview stage.
Interviewer preference: Occasionally, we may encounter an interviewer who prefers Python or other languages. If a candidate writes code in JAVA, he/she may feel pressure in the communication, but it does not mean that JAVA is not allowed.
Candidates' subjective feeling: Some candidates may think that JAVA is more complicated than other languages, especially under the high pressure of interviews, and are prone to logical errors or spelling mistakes, which makes them feel that JAVA is an “inferior language”.
How to use JAVA to deal with Amazon interview?
If you are a JAVA developer, then the following points will help you to show your strength in the Amazon interview!
Familiarize yourself with JAVA's standard library JAVA's standard library is feature-rich, especially the collection framework (e.g. List, Map, Set) and tool classes (e.g. Arrays and Collections). You can utilize these tools efficiently during interviews to avoid building wheels over and over again.
Practice Leetcode topics Many of the algorithmic questions for Amazon interviews come from Leetcode (Medium-Hard). Practice these questions in JAVA to familiarize yourself with its API and syntax, as well as to accumulate some common code templates such as DFS, BFS and DP.
Optimize code structure JAVA code is usually more verbose than languages like Python. When you write code in the interview, try to be as concise as possible, and avoid too much boilerplate code to affect the interviewer's first impression.
Focus on time and space complexity analysis Amazon pays close attention to code performance. When writing code in Java, you can show your understanding of performance optimization by choosing appropriate data structures and algorithms.
Actual interview case sharing
There was a candidate who chose to complete four rounds of Technical interviews in JAVA in Amazon's SDE interview, which covered topics such as:
Implementing an LRU Cache (utilizing LinkedHashMap).
Finding the nearest common ancestor in a binary tree (recursive solution).
Implementing a thread-safe counter (using the synchronized keyword).
Designing an e-commerce shopping cart system (OOD problem).
In the end, he successfully got an offer from Amazon. summarizing his experience, interviewing in JAVA is no problem at all, as long as the code logic is clear and the performance analysis is in place, the language choice will not be an obstacle!
JAVA is one of the widely accepted languages for Amazon interviews! JAVA is one of the most widely accepted languages for Amazon interviews! As long as you are proficient in JAVA and can use it to solve problems efficiently, you don't have to worry about the language limitation at all. Instead of obsessing over language choice, spend more time on algorithms, data structures, and system design when preparing for an Amazon interview. Most importantly, use the tools you know best and let your technical skills add up!
Release time:2025-03-04
