Overview & Essential Tips
As a potential Amazon Business Analyst, it’s crucial to have a solid understanding of the company’s principles and expectations. The Amazon Business Analyst Interview is a comprehensive evaluation of your skills and abilities, and it’s essential to prepare well to increase your chances of success.
At its core, Amazon is a large tech and e-commerce company that focuses on product development and business analytics. As a Business Analyst, your primary responsibility will be to develop a functional set of operational and business metrics that help the company grow. This role requires you to work with other teams to design, create, and implement reporting systems, as well as using metrics to identify opportunities for growth and improvement.
The interview process for the Amazon Business Analyst role typically consists of 4 to 5 rounds, all of which take place in a single day. Before the in-person interview, you’ll likely have an online screening with a hiring manager. During the interview, you’ll be evaluated based on Amazon’s 16 Leadership Principles, which aim to test your ability to think critically, solve problems, and work effectively with others. Additionally, you’ll be asked Amazon technical interview questions to assess your coding, SQL, and database design skills.
Overall, the Amazon Business Analyst Interview is a challenging but rewarding experience. By preparing yourself with a deep understanding of the company’s culture and principles, as well as brushing up on your technical skills and business knowledge, you can increase your chances of success and secure a fulfilling role at Amazon.
How the Amazon Business Analyst Interview Compares to Other Tech Companies
Similarities Between Amazon Business Analyst Interview Compared to Other Tech Companies
There are certain things the Amazon business analyst interview has in common when compared to other Tech companies. They include;
- Behavioral interviews — just like other tech companies, Amazon interviews involve tests on leadership processes. Apart from the common technical skills, employers want to be convinced that you also have leadership skills.
- Case interviews — Amazon conducts use cases interviews to check your performance and your ability to do well in the job. This particular part of the interview enables your recruiter to determine your capabilities and if you are qualified for the job.
Differences Between Amazon Business Analyst Interview Compared to Other Tech Companies
Compared to other tech companies, the Amazon business analyst interview emphasizes using the STAR method during the interview to explain your work experience better.
Amazon has moved almost entirely to AWS internally, so it will be good to possess some AWS knowledge, especially the services related to databases.
Major Distinguishing Factor of the Amazon Business Analyst Interview
- Scenario-based Questions — one major distinguishing factor of the Amazon business analyst interview is the scenario-based questions. The best way to approach them is through the STAR method. The main aim of this is to elaborate on your work experience.
Tip: Address the scenario-based questions by explaining in the context of a situation you were involved in and the responsibility given to you. Explain how you were able to perform your responsibility and the outcomes of your actions.
In essence, you should make use of the STAR method. (Situation, Task, Action, Result). Emphasize more on the action and the result.
- Technical Questions — another major distinguishing factor of the Amazon business analyst interview is the technical question. It includes SQL queries and ETLs, business case questions, statistical analysis, and product metrics.
There will be at least one round on technical skills. This round aims to test your SQL skills. However, it will help if you have background knowledge in Python or data visualization tools. You should expect SQL questions on your interview and other elements of data engineering such as data extraction and transformation.
- Behavioral interview
The Amazon business analyst interview includes the behavioral interview, which has to do with leadership principles. Explain how you have exhibited leadership competency through past events.
Some examples of leadership competency include;
- Customer management – explain how you have addressed customers’ issues by offering better solutions.
- Deep research — explain how you have provided solutions to complex issues by researching the issue deeply.
- Emphasis on action and result — while you might have a lot to say about your work experience, prioritize talking about action and result.
- Trust — leadership processes are not complete without you mentioning how you have gained the trust of your other team members. Explain how you have maintained good relationships with customers.
Most Important Amazon Business Analyst SQL Concept
Structured Query Language (SQL) is a standard for accessing databases. It is an integral part of the Amazon business analyst interview as you will be required to provide solutions using SQL.
You don’t spend much time focusing on the theoretical concepts of Amazon and its services because only a few questions are asked during the interview. You need to prepare yourself for the interview by solving practical SQL questions.
Some of the basic concepts of SQL interview include;
- Storing data in multiple tables.
- Merging data using JOIN clauses, common table expressions, or subqueries
- Data aggregation
Most Important Amazon Business Analyst SQL Functions
- Table joins: LEFT, RIGHT, INNER, OUTER JOIN.
- Aggregation functions + GROUP BY clause, for example, MIN(), MAX(), SUM(), AVG(), COUNT().
- Window functions, for example, AVG(…) OVER (PARTITION BY … ORDER BY …)
- CASE WHEN clause.
- Rankings and top N elements with LIMIT, RANK(), DENSE_RANK(), ROW_NUMBER().
Most Important Amazon Business Analyst SQL Questions
Amazon SQL questions aim at testing your knowledge of the SQL concepts. However, there are questions you need to pay detailed attention to. SQL questions start from the basic definition-based questions to advanced practical exercises.
Some questions that are often asked are divided into seven categories. They include;
- Definition based SQL questions
- Basic SQL questions
- Reporting and metrics SQL questions
- Analytics SQL questions
- ETL SQL questions
- Database design questions
- Logic-based SQL questions
Want to know the 10 latest latest Amazon and AWS SQL questions? Check out our recent article!
Here are some questions to help you prepare for your SQL interview under each of these seven categories;
- Definition-based SQL Questions – In interviews, definition-based SQL questions are common, and they allow interviewers to assess your SQL skills quickly.
To prepare, all you have to do is review a list of SQL terminology and application definitions. Understanding the differences between SQL joins, the different types of aggregations accessible, and basic procedures like CASE WHEN and HAVING are just a few of the questions that will be asked.
Here are major concepts defined;
- OLTP – They are databases for processing online transactions. You have to normalize data with OLTP.
- OLAP – they are databases used for analytical processing online. Denormalize data when it is OLAP.
- WHERE – this is used to filter data rows before grouping.
- HAVING – they are used after grouping data to remove records.
- CASE WHEN FUNCTION – CASE WHEN enables you to create elaborate conditional statements in the SELECT clause and shift data from wide to long formats.
- JOIN – Join is used to combine data gotten from several data sources. A LEFT JOIN combines and returns all rows from the left table.
- COUNT – they are used to count the number of rows.
- WHERE – WHERE are used to filter rows before the GROUP BY clause
- HAVING – this is used to filter rows after the GROUP BY clause.
Reporting and Metrics SQL Question
This set of questions examines your problem-solving skills and knowledge of SQL functions. It also demands advanced SQL skills.
ETL SQL Interview Questions
ETL stands for “Extract, Transfer, Load.”
Questions –
- Can you tell me the difference between merge and union all transformations?
- Explain the term clustered index.
- What is the difference between a star schema and a snowflake schema?
- How do merge upserts work?
- How can history loads be done?
Database Design SQL Interview Questions
Database design SQL questions test your knowledge of data architecture and design.
Questions –
- What tools do you use for data analysis?
- How have you used BI tools to solve a problem?
- How do you deal with multi-source problems?
Logic-based SQL interview questions
These sets of questions are not relatable to real-life questions and can be tricky. Are very tricky.
Question: Write a query to create a new flight routes table, displaying unique pairs of two locations.
Statistical Analysis & Mathematical Logic
Question: How are mean, median, and mode in a positively skewed distribution-related?
Conclusion
Getting a job at Amazon requires many technical and business skills, including logical thinking, problem-solving skills, communication skills, and leadership skills. You should focus on developing these skills before going for an interview.
Get as many practice questions before the onsite interview using Big Tech Interviews. You should expect a bar raiser towards the end of your interview. Amazon uses an individual not part of the interviewing team to enhance objectivity and sustainability.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the interview process like at Amazon for business analysts?
Answer: The interview process for a business analyst position at Amazon typically involves a combination of behavioral and technical interviews. The behavioral interviews are designed to assess the candidate’s ability to think critically and communicate effectively, while the technical interviews are focused on testing the candidate’s knowledge of data analysis and problem solving. In some cases, there may also be a case study or project-based interview to assess the candidate’s ability to apply their skills in a real-world setting.
2. How many rounds is an Amazon Business Analyst interview?
Answer: The number of rounds in an Amazon Business Analyst interview can vary depending on the team and the specific role, but it is common for candidates to go through at least two or three rounds of interviews. The first round is typically a phone screen, followed by one or two in-person interviews. In some cases, there may be a final round of interviews with senior leaders or hiring managers.
3. What is the Amazon business analyst salary?
Answer: The Amazon Business Analyst salary can vary based on the specific role and level of experience, but the average base salary for an Amazon Business Analyst is around $90,000 per year. Some Business Analysts may also receive additional compensation in the form of bonuses, stock options, and other benefits.
4. How does the Amazon BA intern interview differ from the BA full-time interview?
Answer: The Amazon BA intern interview process is similar to the full-time Business Analyst interview, but it may be slightly less intensive and focused on assessing the candidate’s potential for growth and development. The intern interview may also include discussions about the candidate’s goals, interests, and aspirations for the future.
