I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 weeks.

• Recruiter Phone Screen (30 Minutes): The process begins with an initial conversation with a recruiter to review your background. The focus is on general work history, pipeline experiences, and core behavioral questions (e.g., "Why Microsoft?"). Tip: Unlike other tech giants, Microsoft recruiters have deep insight into the specific hiring team. Use this call to ask about the team's precise cloud architecture, tech stack, and primary data challenges.
• Technical Screening (45–60 Minutes): A 1-on-1 virtual interview with a data engineer focused heavily on core technical fundamentals. SQL: Expect 1 or 2 medium-to-hard SQL live coding tasks using a third-party compiler. Focus areas include window functions, Common Table Expressions (CTEs), rolling averages, and duplicate removal strategies. Python/Data Structures: A standard coding problem evaluating data manipulation skills (often string, array, or dictionary manipulations) or basic object-oriented programming.