System Development Engineer I, REALM

Amazon

You are given a string moves of length n consisting only of characters 'L', 'R', and '_'. The string represents your movement on a number line starting from the origin 0. In the ith move, you can choose one of the following directions: move to the left if moves[i] = 'L' or moves[i] = '_' move to the right if moves[i] = 'R' or moves[i] = '_' Return the *distance from the origin* of the *furthest* point you can get to after n moves. Example 1: Input: moves = L_RL__R Output: 3 Explanation: The furthest point we can reach from the origin 0 is point -3 through the following sequence of moves LLRLLLR. Example 2: Input: moves = R__LL Output: 5 Explanation: The furthest point we can reach from the origin 0 is point -5 through the following sequence of moves LRLLLLL. Example 3: Input: moves = _ Output: 7 Explanation: The furthest point we can reach from the origin 0 is point 7 through the following sequence of moves RRRRRRR.

Amazon

Let's explore a scenario involving data transformation. Imagine you're receiving a stream of customer data from various sources. This data includes customer IDs, names, email addresses, and purchase histories. However, the data is inconsistent: some sources use different formats for dates, some have missing fields, and others use abbreviations for states. Your task is to design a robust and efficient system to clean and transform this data into a consistent format suitable for analysis. Specifically: Data Cleaning: How would you handle missing values, inconsistent date formats (e.g., MM/DD/YYYY vs. YYYY-MM-DD), and variations in state abbreviations (e.g., CA vs. California)? Provide code examples (Python is preferred) demonstrating how you would address these issues. Data Transformation: How would you transform the data to ensure consistency? For example, you might need to convert all dates to a standard format, expand state abbreviations to their full names, and ensure all customer IDs are in a uniform format. Scalability: How would you design the system to handle a large volume of data (e.g., millions of records per day)? Consider the technologies and architectures you would use to ensure scalability and performance. Think about potential bottlenecks and how to address them. Error Handling: Describe how you would implement error handling and logging to identify and address data quality issues. What metrics would you track to monitor the quality of the transformed data? For instance, suppose you receive the following data snippets: Source 1: {customer_id: 123, name: Alice, email: alice@example.com, purchase_date: 01/01/2023, state: CA} Source 2: {CustomerID: 456, Name: Bob, Email: bob@example.com, PurchaseDate: 2023-01-01, State: California} How would your system handle these variations and transform them into a unified format like this: {customer_id: 123, name: Alice, email: alice@example.com, purchase_date: 2023-01-01, state: California}

Amazon

Tell me about a project that you're most proud of. To help me understand the scope and impact, please provide specific details about the project, including: The problem: What challenge were you trying to solve, and why was it important? Your role: What specific responsibilities did you have on the project? What were your key contributions? The technical details: What technologies, tools, or techniques did you use? For example, did you work with a specific programming language, framework, or database? The outcome: What were the results of the project? Did you meet the initial goals? Did you encounter any unexpected benefits or challenges? What did you learn?: Looking back, what would you do differently? What skills or knowledge did you gain from the experience? Did you face any setbacks, and how did you overcome them? For instance, if you worked on a project to improve the performance of a web application, you might discuss the specific performance bottlenecks you identified, the optimization techniques you implemented (e.g., caching, code optimization), and the resulting improvement in response time or throughput. Or, if you designed a new feature for a mobile app, you could describe the user research you conducted, the design process you followed, and the metrics you used to measure the feature's success. Be prepared to discuss technical challenges you faced and how you addressed them.