Initially, there was a phone interview with technical questions to gauge the level of knowledge. These were quite general questions requiring short answers. For example: What port does DNS run on? How can you host multiple websites on a server?

A few days later, I was called in for a face-to-face interview with two managers. This lasted approximately 90 minutes and was a mixture of technical questions, going into more detail than the previous telephone interview, and then some general questions about hobbies, interests, and technology.

At one point, they asked me how I would solve a difficult problem and what steps I would take to find an answer. I replied that I would use Technet, check Microsoft forums, or get the error and "just Google it" to see what came back. When I uttered the word "Google," their expressions actually turned to scowls. I tried to laugh it off, but it didn't work. We carried on, but the mood had changed, and I knew from then on that I wouldn't be getting called back. It was as if I had sworn or used a racist profanity. The interview ended quite quickly soon after.

It appears they genuinely hate Google. They are not merely a competitor or rival; they actually hate them. I can still see that look on their faces when I said it. It's a good thing I didn't forget to put my iPhone on silent, or they would have called security to march me out of the building right then and there if that had gone off.

TOP TIP for an interview at Microsoft: Do not mention Google, Apple, VMware, Citrix, SAP, Linux, Java, Sun, PlayStation, iPhone, iPod, Oracle, Yahoo, or any company involved in any sector that Microsoft operates in or plans to operate in.

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