Clarify with the interviewer upfront what level of detail they expect, then focus on demonstrating your design thinking through clear class structures, interfaces, and key methods. Use pseudocode or skeletal code to convey your ideas, and be prepared to discuss trade-offs and potential implementations.
Pro tip: At Amazon, interviewers value working backwards from customer needs and demonstrating ownership; show how your design decisions impact scalability, maintainability, and customer experience, even if the code isn't fully compilable.
Ask the interviewer whether they prefer pseudocode, skeletal code, or fully compilable code, and confirm the focus areas (e.g., class design, algorithms, trade-offs).
Sketch the high-level architecture, key classes, interfaces, and relationships, explaining how they address the problem requirements.
Write pseudocode or skeletal code for the most important methods, focusing on logic and data flow rather than syntax.
Explain alternative designs and justify your choices based on scalability, performance, and maintainability.
Walk through edge cases, potential bottlenecks, and how you would test and refine the design.
AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.