Lead Software Engineer Interview Experience - Redmond, Washington
Process
A recruiter contacted me and arranged the hotel, rental car, and flight. I met with an HR representative in the morning, then had interviews with managers and engineers. I was questioned on programming skills, algorithm design, programming language knowledge, and management philosophies.
I was treated to lunch at a local Thai restaurant. I was able to ask plenty of questions about work culture, telecommuting, on-site cafeterias, and more.
Though I've heard that the interviews can be draining, to me it felt like a full day of work.
Questions
How would you deal with an employee that wasn't performing?
How would you make strtok?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 2 interview experiences for the Microsoft Lead Software Engineer role in Redmond, Washington.
Success Rate
Microsoft's interview process for their Lead Software Engineer roles in Redmond, Washington is fairly selective, failing a large portion of engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Microsoft's Lead Software Engineer interview process in Redmond, Washington.
Microsoft Work Experiences
- 4.0Perspiration required, inspiration rewarded - sometimesLead Software Engineer • Current EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesMay 31, 2011Pros: Some products are used by literally everybody in the whole world (Windows, Office, and to a lesser extent Visual Studio). Excellent benefits package, competent middle management, at least in Office. Very professional and diverse environment.Cons: Big products, big teams mean major time spent on communication. Market-leading products face regulatory pains, for example, documentation for Office Server includes every single stored procedure that's part of the product. Long-lived products have major backward compatibility issues. In big teams, career advancement comes more from being risk-averse and having good communication with management than from innovation and technical prowess. To some extent, that's reasonable, but the focus is too much on the former, in my humble opinion.
- 4.0I am satisfied with ROILead Software Engineer • Current EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesJanuary 1, 2011Pros: A very smart set of people.Cons: Some old timers are complacent.
- 2.0You Never KnowLead Software Engineer • Current EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesJuly 10, 2009Pros: You can work with smart people on challenging problems. If you're capable and happen to be on the right team with the right manager, your contributions can be recognized and well rewarded.Cons: Your experience at Microsoft varies by group. Some groups are very political and dysfunctional. Process can be excessive and slows everything down. Poor planning leads to many "crunch" times, but the extra hours you put in are rarely noticed by the management team that failed to plan in the first place.
Microsoft Interview Questions
