Amazon·Software Engineer

Amazon Software Engineer interview experience

No offer

L4Posted Aug 2026 · Candidate report, summarized by Dataford

I interviewed for an Amazon SDE II role and got rejected, but I learned something important when I asked my recruiter about lowering the level.

After I was declined for the SDE II path, I requested consideration for an L4/SDE I position, and the recruiter checked back with the panel.

They came back and confirmed the interviewers were aligned on L4, which meant the conversations had been reconsidered at a different level rather than being dismissed completely. The part that surprised me was how quickly the process pivoted once I raised the downlevel request—something I didn’t expect given how final a rejection can feel.

I didn’t end up with a clear offer in my write-up, but the experience taught me that being assessed at the “right

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