How to prepare for Amazon Cloud Support Associate Role

AWS recruited me through on-campus in April 2021, Amazon visited my college and there was around 25 days gap before the online assessment. And after assessment there was around 19 days gap for the interview. And Amazon announced the results just after the two days of interview, and I was the only student who got selected. So this was the short timeline summary, now I will share my complete journey of becoming a Cloud Support Associate in Amazon.

When the notification was released for CSA recruitment, I had no idea about this profile. So just talked to my senior(He is also working as a CSA) and Googled about this role ,then I had some idea that it's majorly related to troubleshooting, and computer networks and operating system will play the major role, but keep in mind one thing that don't ignore  HR+Managerial round, it is equally important as well as CN and OS, I saw some candidates, who have the good knowledge about CN and OS but they were not able to perform good in HR+Managerial round, and they got rejected.

Note1: This preparation strategy is same for off-campus, So don't be confused.

Note2: If you think your communication is not up to the level, then practice alot before the interview. I am writing some points that can help you :

1. For communication, if there is not much time for the interview, don't read the newspaper. Just read your syllabus loudly, this will help you in your fluency as well as in your learning.

2. After learning a topic, practice in front of the mirror.

3. Be an interviewer and candidate both for practice. After understanding a topic just ask yourself possible questions or cross questions.

Now come to the main point, there was two rounds for the recruitment :

1. Online Assessment 

2. Interview

Online Assessment

There were two sub rounds in the assessment.

1. Work simulation- In this round they will provide you a live environment, where there will be many mails and each mail will have some objective type questions and you will have to choose correct option. Please note that, for this round “presence of mind” and “logical thinking” is important. Just put yourself in place of client and think what would be best for you as a client

2. Computer networks MCQ - If you have completed the syllabus, then you will be able to answer mostly questions. 

Computer networks and Operating systems was my core subjects. After the assessment result, I started from scratch and practiced each topic, what I had in my list. I didn't try to increase my topics list, just revised and practiced a lot.

Now come to the interview part and resources that I had used for preparation.

 Virtual Interview

There were three rounds in the interview :

1. OS Round

2. CN Round 

3. HR+Managerial Round

OS Round

There are no official syllabus for the interview, but I am sharing my experience. So, you should have good knowledge about these topics along with some extra practical knowledge.

  1. Operating System Fundamentals
  2. Components of OS 
  3. Process scheduling and management, IPC
  4. Memory management
  5. Disk management 
  6. Boot process Windows or Linux 
  7. Linux/Windows commands and troubleshooting
  8. Virtualization

I mentioned some extra practical knowledge because they can ask totally practical questions, which will not be related to the above topics. So you have to prepare yourself for those questions. Don’t worry, I compiled many questions already asked in the interview, you can find all questions by clicking on the link below. I hope this will help you.

Operating System questions for Amazon Cloud Support Associate Interview

Note: They asked 3 coding questions from easy to moderate level, So brush up your programming concepts before the interview.

CN Round

For CN also, there is no official syllabus, I am sharing my experience. So I am listing all topics below.

  1. Basics of networking
  2. Basic networking topology
  3. Network Protocol Knowledge - Ethernet, ARP, TCP, IP, Ports, DNS, SSL, HTTP, DHCP
  4. Network Routing Knowledge - Private IPs and Public IPs, Types of routing: Static, Dynamic (Distance Vector, Link state and Path vector), BGP, OSPF 
  5. IP Addressing and Subnetting
  6. Network layer firewalls, application layer firewalls
  7. Commands - Traceroute, ping, telnet, tcpdump, curl, SSH.

Like OS, I also compiled already asked questions for CN, hope this will help you. Please click on the link below

Computer Network questions for Amazon Cloud Support Associate Interview

HR+Managerial Round 

In my process, there was a combined HR+Managerial but I saw in recent interviews, they are conducting separate rounds for HR and managerial. So, it doesn’t matter that the round is combined or separate, If you are well prepared you can perform well in both situations. I am giving just a basic introduction about these rounds, which will help you to understand in a more clear way.

HR Round -They want to check whether you will be able to smoothly work with the team and adapt the organizational culture. Eg.-Tell me about your weakness/strengths, Why should we hire you ?

Managerial Round – They want to check that you are capable of delivering on the role or not. They will give you a situation and you will have to give a strategic answer. Eg.-Tell me about a project that makes you proud, If your team resists your idea, what will you do ?

In situation based questions, you should follow the STAR method. STAR stands for Situational, Task, Action, Result. Just Google about it, you will get more information.

I am sharing all HR+Managerial questions, which I prepared for the interview. Please note that all questions asked in Interview was different from my prepared questions, But I was well prepared and I had sufficient content regarding many situations, So I was able to answer all random questions.

HR Managerial Questions for Cloud Support Associate Interview

I know, if you are reading this means you are dedicated, so be strategic in Interview, you will definitely in AMAZON.

All the best for all endeavors.