American Express Interview Experience | EDA/CFR Capabilities FTE ( On-Campus )
Interview Experience
Online Round: There were two coding questions. These questions were different for everybody. Many students were able to do both so they both were generally easy to medium ...
Full Details
Online Round: There were two coding questions. These questions were different for everybody. Many students were able to do both so they both were generally easy to medium level questions. You had 30 minutes to attempt these. Once you move to the next aptitude section you cannot return back to the coding section though. Next were 60 aptitude question which had to be done in 45 minutes. Questions were from various topics like general aptitude questions, C++, JAVA & C code snippets. DBMS, OS MCQs. Few questions related to SQL queries were also there. I would recommend to not get stuck at any question move onto next question because the time period is very short and you would want to at least go through all the 60 questions. Try to nitpick the questions which can be done the quickest. Next, around 25 students were selected for the interviews. 1st Interview Round- There were two panelists who were asking questions. This round lasted for more than an hour. Firstly I was asked to introduce myself. Tip- ALWAYS prepare your intro very well. This decides the direction of your interview. I was asked about the different OOPs concepts and was asked to explain how I used those in my projects. Puzzle- How to make 8 equal pieces of a cake using three cuts. Puzzle- I have a 5L jug and a 3L jug. How to measure 4L of water. I was asked about the scope resolution operator and was told to answer a code snippet using scope resolution operator. Given a SQL query which used GROUP BY and using nested Queries. I had mentioned some machine learning project in my resume and was asked in-depth about those. For example, the dataset used, what model was used and why. Lastly, I was asked if I had any question for them. I asked something related to EDA and their work. TIP- Always do your research about the company or the team. Asking a good question really puts up a great impression and it definitely increases your chances of getting selected. 2nd Interview Round - This round lasted for around 40 minutes. Introduce yourself. Guesstimate question - How many marriages happen in Delhi in a year. Guesstimate question - How many people in Delhi drive their car themselves. TIP- The key to guesstimate isn't to give a correct answer, because even the interviewer is sometimes not sure of the correct answer, but rather its an opportunity to showcase your creative thinking ability. This round demonstrates how do you handle abstract situations and in how many ways can you try to provide the best possible solution. In these questions try to have like a discussion with the interviewer. Why do you want to join Amex? What will you do if you are not given the role of your choice? Any question for the interviewer? 3rd Interview Round - This round was taken by the head of the group and it was more like a discussion based on my resume and my life. They asked me a few things about me and my life. Then they asked about my internship. Also, some further questions about my project were asked. Then they gave me a really tough SQL question which was really challenging. I was able to devise the solution but coding it was a little difficult. But I somehow was able to write the code. Finally, 3 students including me were given the offer.
About This Question
This is a candidate experience report from a american express interview for a swe role (intern level) during the technical round reported in 2020.
It covers the following topics: Sql, Ml .
Difficulty rating: Easy
More American Express Interview Questions
About American Express Interview Reports
This question was reported by a candidate who interviewed at American Express. LeakCode aggregates interview reports from 10+ sources, including 1Point3Acres, Glassdoor, LeetCode Discuss, Blind, Reddit, Indeed, and Nowcoder. Each report is translated where necessary, deduplicated against existing entries, and tagged by company, role, round type, and reporting date.
Use this question as one calibration data point, not a memorization target. Companies typically rotate their question pools every 2-4 months; the exact wording of a 2024 question may differ from what you encounter today. The underlying pattern, difficulty level, and follow-up depth at American Express are the higher-signal extractions to take from this report.
For broader preparation context, the American Express interview process typically includes a recruiter screen, one or two technical phone screens, and a 4-5 round on-site loop covering coding, system design (at L4+ levels), and behavioral. Reports tagged on LeakCode show the round-by-round distribution and typical difficulty calibration. To browse questions filtered by round type and seniority, use the company hub linked above.
How To Practice This Type of Question
Solve similar problems on LeetCode under timed conditions (25-35 minutes per medium difficulty). The goal is pattern recognition: recognize the underlying technique (sliding window, two-pointer, BFS, memoized recursion, etc.) within 60-90 seconds of reading. Strong candidates verbalize their hypothesis out loud before coding, then iterate based on feedback. Weak candidates dive into implementation immediately, lose time on the wrong approach, and run out of time for follow-ups.
Companies update their question pools every 2-4 months. The exact wording of any given question may have been retired by the time you interview. Focus your prep on the pattern, not the specific problem. The patterns that appear in American Express reports consistently are the ones worth investing in; one-off niche problems are not.
During Your American Express Round
Apply the standard interview round template: clarify requirements (2-3 minutes), state your approach out loud and confirm direction with the interviewer (3-5 minutes), code with narration (15-25 minutes), test with concrete examples including edge cases (5 minutes), discuss optimization or trade-offs if time permits (5 minutes). This template is universally accepted across FAANG and adjacent companies; deviating from it produces weaker interviewer feedback signal.
The single most predictive failure mode in American Express reports tagged "no hire": not asking clarifying questions. Interviewers are explicitly trained to weight this. Strong candidates ask 3-5 clarifying questions even on problems that look obvious; weak candidates dive into code immediately. The clarifying-question check is often the first signal recorded in the interviewer's written notes.