Amazon Ring的面試心得

年初的時後從Linkedin收到Amazon HR的邀約, 然後就開始了為期將近三個月的奇幻旅程, 剛好在最近告了一個段落, 也趁自己印像還深刻的時候整理一下

Ring這家公司在他們HR連絡我之前, 我並不熟悉他們的產品, 所以我花了點時間做了一些功課, 瞭解他們大概的產品以及他們產品的使用對像, Ring的產品線目前我找到的大概是Doorbell camera, 可裝置於門口供監測與對講使用, Floodlight和Spotlight camera可提供額外的照明光源, 其照明光源可選擇照射不同的區域, Alarm sensors可用於偵測門的開關, 有一個中控台可透過wireless z-wave連結所有ring的裝置, 而ring的產品都是專注在居家安全, 所以客戶類型都是一般的消費者, 然後ring最近正研發一款可巡航的無人機, 可以設定巡航路徑監視沒有安裝camera的死角

Ring camera使用的是晨星和安霸提供的低階版camera SoC, 不過我翻了一下Ring camera的source, 它們使用的Ambarella S2Lm大概也有5~6年了, 基於battery camera省電的考量, 應該這一兩年會做一次SoC的進版

其實在後來面試的過程中, 透過某些面試官的介紹, 我更清楚的知道他們分工的方式與做事的內容, Ring的開發部門在台灣的主要有硬體, 機構, 測試和軟體, 台灣負責所有的硬體與機構設計, 而軟體部分大概分為三塊, 台灣這邊的開發部分主要負責board bring up, BSP,drivers和生產相關事宜, UK team大概負責application, streaming, 烏克蘭那邊的team負責系統整合, 每個team的規模將近10位開發人員

面試的過程和內容大概為以下三項, 然後大概百分之80的interview都是用英文

1. Hiring manager phonse screen:Behavior questions
2. Writing test: Write a small essay which is limited to two to three pages.
3. Virtual onsite Loop interview: Behavior questions, technical questions

我把我遇到的BQ列如下, 前面的tag是LP的分類, 因為我面試的是manager等級的職位, 所以跟SDE可能不太一樣

1. [Ownership]Tell me about a time when you took on something significant outside your area of responsibility. Why was it important? What was the outcome
2. [Ownership]Describe a project or idea (not necessarily your own) that was implemented primarily because of your efforts. What was your role? What was the outcome?
3. [Ownership]Give an example of when you saw a peer struggling and decided to step in and help. What was the situation and what actions did you take? What was the outcome?
4. [Are right, a lot]Tell me about a time you made a mistake.
5. [Are right, a lot]Tell me about a time you disagreed with a colleague. What is the process you used to work it out?
6. [Are right, a lot]Give me an example of making an important decision in the absence of good data. What was the situation and how did you arrive at your decision? Did the decision turn out to be the correct one?
7. [Learn and be curious]How do you stay inspired, acquire new knowledge, or innovate in your work?
8. [Learn and be curious]How do you keep up with industry trends and what your competitors are doing?
9. [Learn and be curious]What have you learned that has helped you in your job?
10. [Learn and be curious]Tell me about a time when you solved a problem through just superior knowledge or observation.
11. [Learn and be curious]Tell me about a time you didn’t know what to do next or how to solve a challenging problem?
12. [Learn and be curious]Give me an example of a time when someone on your team challenged you to think differently about a problem.
13. [Hire and develope]Give me an example of one of the best hires of your career. How did this person grow throughout their career? What did you identify during the hiring process that drove her success?
14. [Hire and develope]How do you manage your top performers differently?
15. [Highest standards]Tell me about a time when you’ve been unsatisfied with the status quo. What did you do to change it? Were you successful?
16. [Highest standards]Tell me about a time you wouldn’t compromise on achieving a great outcome when others felt something was already good enough. What was the situation?
17. [Highest standards]Tell me about a time when you worked to improve the quality of a product / service / solution that was already getting good customer feedback? Why did you think it needed more improvement?
18. [Think big]Tell me about a time you took a calculated risk in order to achieve a professional goal. What were the tradeoffs? What was the outcome?
19. [Think big]Tell me about a time you looked at a key process that was working well and questioned whether it was still the right one. What assumptions were you questioning and why? Did you end up making a change to the process?
20. [Earn trust]Tell me about a time when you had to tell someone a harsh truth
21. [Earn trust]How do you convince someone who is resistant to what you’re trying to do?
22. [Bias for actions]Give me an example of a calculated risk that you have taken where speed was critical. What was the situation and how did you handle it? What steps did you take to mitigate the risk? What was the outcome?
23. [Bias for actions]Give an example of when you had to make an important decision and had to decide between moving forward or gathering more information. What did you do? What information is necessary for you to have before acting?
24. [Have backbone]Tell me about a situation where you had a conflict with someone on your team. What was it about? What did you do? How did they react? What was the outcome?
25. [Have backbone]If your direct manager was instructing you to do something you disagreed with, how would you handle it?
26. [Customer obsessions]Tell me about a time you handled a difficult customer. What did you do? How did you manage the customer? What was her/his reaction? What was the outcome?
27. [Deliver results]Describe a situation where you had to face a particularly challenging situation while working on a project and what you did to overcome it. (Note: The challenge could be with respect to timeline, scope, people, or a combination thereof.)
28. [Deliver results]What’s the most complex problem you’ve ever worked on.

建議面試前的兩周每天至少花3~4個小時準備BQ, 我準備的方式是用PAR的格式把可能會問到的題目都用英文寫過一遍, BQ裡面可以略過Invent and simplify, 因為你在回答其他BQ的問題中, 一定會有某些你做過的事情或決策跟這項有關, 然後Frugality, Strive to be the earth’s best employer幾乎沒有人問我這類的BQ問題

在準備BQ的過程中也不要過於誇大或寫沒做過的事, 因為每一題的BQ都會被問得很深入, 比方說有一題”Give me an example of making an important decision in the absence of good data. What was the situation and how did you arrive at your decision? Did the decision turn out to be the correct one?“, 面試官可能會問你, 為什麼會沒有good data? 是哪一個原因造成的? 你如何克服沒有good data的問題? 然後為什麼你可以用你手上的資料做決策? 我用一個我寫過的答案來描述如何貼合這個範例題

P:
We only did ODM/OEM projects and one of the customers asked if we could also do JDM. I roughly know the scope of their JDM requirements but I don’t know the details about what we have to provide or what we need them to provide(請注意是abasence of good data而不是absence of data,在我的描述中有寫到客人有給project scope和大略的requirement但缺乏施作的細節). There are two choices I can make. One is to turn them down about this request and the other is to have a talk with the customer to get more detail and decide later.(請切記不要在想問題的解決方法時只用一種approach, 你可以有多個解決問題的方法) My higher management told me that they will respect my decision so I will not be forced to make any decision. I
A:
I went to cusotmer’s RD site to have a deep dive meeting with my customer. We went through all the components and API interfaces they needed our help with. Most of the hardware dependent work will be done by us(drivers, kernel, ISP library…etc) and all the VMS system integration will be done by them.(詳述你達成決定時所依據的資料如何得到, 可以拿來做決策的原因) I also get more detail about how they incorporate our libraries and API into their firmware and what they can provide for our production line test software. The 3 days meeting also helps me understand how it could speed up our development compared with ODM. An ODM project usually takes 6 to 8 months but JDM could possibly make it shorter. After I understood all the detail and responsibilities, I decided to take this JDM project. We have never done JDM before. If we can do it, we will have one more new business model.
R:
(1) JDM projects working model has been introduced to our company for more than 5 years. It has less schedule risk and it saves our RD resources. It usually takes 3~4 months to finish a project which is 30%~40% shorter than ODM ones.
(2) JDM project now becomes one of our most important business models. It constanly contributes 30% of our revenue for each year.(把所有結果都數據化, 盡量不要用”很好”,”還不錯”這種似是而非的論述)

面試中有一些該注意的地方, 我簡列如下

1. 我感覺資深的面試官在面試時非常講究每個session的時間控制和session該有的難度, 舉個例來說, 我在virtual onsite的其中一個面試, 大概分成兩個session, 兩個session會被精準的控制在各30分鐘, 在每個session會有數個圍繞1~2個LP的問題, 面試官會準備幾個問題從難到易, 如果你覺得他丟出的問題不好回答, 你可以選擇跳過, 他會再丟另一個可能比較簡單的問題讓你發揮, 他會藉由這些難易不同的問題, 知道你這個人的深度在哪裡, 這一點跟台灣其他公司的面試不太一樣, 台灣面試官通常不會讓你跳題, 能回答與否有可能取決個人運氣, 跟你的底子與實力沒有太大關係, 所以這也是我在Amazon面試時學到的一點, 面試不應該讓被面試者覺得難堪, 而是雙方建立一個讓彼此更了解對方的管道
2. 如果感覺自己回答的方向是錯誤的, 請抓緊時間請面試官問你其他的題目, 不要浪費時間讓面試官介紹或閒聊對面試沒有幫助的事情, 因為最後的debrief, 每個面試官都必須提出他面試時觀察到的現象, 如果你給他的資訊不夠, 他會認為他對你掌握的資訊不足, 在最後的debrief你應該不會得到太好的結果, 舉例來說, 我在其中一場面試回答了錯誤的答案, 最後10分鐘時, 面試官問我有沒有其他想問他的問題, 我是直接跟他說沒有, 請他繼續BQ我, 我要讓他BQ我到他滿意為止
3. 建議在面試前把Chime先打開並確定video和audio都可以通, 你可以自己開個chat room確保你的所有裝置都是OK的, 我發現如果開機不打開喇叭, Chime有時會偵測不到輸出裝置, 除非你重開機

Amazon Ring是一個很不錯的公司, 我碰到的面試官都很nice, 也很願意在面試的時候引導你, 他們對我而言都是人生中難得碰到的貴人, 與他們面試的過程中學到很多東西

Amazon的HR真的很猛, 以我的年紀其實不太可能會選這麼tough的面試, 但這位新加坡的人資軟硬皆施的居然把我說動了, 我真的很佩服她的毅力與決心, 她給我的感覺真的很像自己的妹妹或是多年的好友, 她花了很多時間幫我準備面試和瞭解Ring未來的組織擴張方向和計畫, 在這邊也特別謝謝這位優秀的HR