Is Tech getting more elitist ?

I think your view is too cynical about getting into Amazon and you're trying too hard to game the system with that mentality. I know about the Codesmith Slack channels and Discords where people try to game the system. I know it works for some people and that only makes others double down on the same approach. But please hear me out. I've worked with a few people, and one in particular super closely, to get into Amazon with zero work experience. We also have a senior manager bar raiser mentor who did a panel discussion a few months ago for us around this topic. You shouldn't memorize some "stories for their Amazon principles and answer medium leetcode" to get in, you are missing the point and you might not keep your job very long if you get it. No interview system is perfect, but you'll have an easier time and more successful career trying to: 1. Become a genuinely strong generic problem solver, not a LC memorizer 2. Put in thousands of hours of programming time so you have stories to draw out of Amazon's principles, instead of fabricating stories from a few hours of work starting with the principals. Personal story. I was a classic overachiever child who always tried to game studying for tests to get the highest grades... but I was missing the point of what I was actually studying. I got amazing grades and had a lot of on paper success, I graduated high school top of my class, but I unlocked a much larger level of impact when I started opening my eyes to what I was doing. All of that work ethic and hustle I had developed by blindingly cramming for tests could now be applied to genuinely understanding how things all fit together and solving real problems. Always remember this: engineers get paid the big bucks to solve problems, they don't memorize things and regurgitate them.