Microsoft conducts hiring drives, often scheduling multiple interview rounds on the same day. In my case, two rounds were scheduled for the same day. I requested that the third round be moved to another day due to unavailability. This interview was for the data security team.

The first round was a DSA (Data Structures and Algorithms) round focused on finding connected components. I coded the entire solution using the Union-Find algorithm with path compression and union by rank. When I discussed my solution and finished coding it within 15-20 minutes, the interviewer seemed satisfied. However, he then reviewed my code and began speaking rudely, claiming I was unnecessarily looping through my code multiple times. I explained that I exit early as soon as I find the answer, but he did not listen. He later apologized when he realized I had already implemented what he was adamantly suggesting.

After this point, it seemed he had already decided to reject me, possibly because he realized he was mistaken, which reflected in his subsequent behavior. We still had 30 minutes remaining. I asked if he wished to ask a second question, but instead, he used the time to be condescending. He first asked for the time complexity of my code, which was optimal. He then immediately interrupted to state that it was a textbook solution and that he needed an alternate approach (multiple-source shortest path). I explained why Union-Find was a better choice, and he agreed. However, he continued talking for another 15 minutes, pacing around his room with his wife occasionally visible in the background, while I listened.

Once he finished, I respectfully asked if he was happy with my solution and if it was optimal. He explicitly mentioned more than twice that he was satisfied with my solution and that it was optimal.

We still had 10-12 minutes left, and he opened the floor for any questions, so we simply had a chat.

The second round was with two interviewers. We discussed my experience a bit, and one interviewer attempted to belittle my work experience. He then proceeded to ask a very poorly formulated question: "Write a Get API to fetch product details if you are passed a page number in the parameter." I sought further clarification, but he provided unhelpful answers that were vague, conflicting, and unnecessary. I deduced he was likely looking for an LRU cache implementation. However, when I proposed the classic Dictionary+List approach, he rejected it. He seemed unable to grasp how caching works at the OS level, and his requirements kept changing.

He appeared unprepared and lacked interview skills, constantly improvising and taking the interview in various directions instead of having clear expectations. To mask his poor performance in front of a senior engineer, he made a remark about me needing to "brush up on algorithms." This came after I had provided the LRU cache implementation, which he had rejected. I understood then that he would provide negative feedback. The implementation was not even difficult, yet he made the interview challenging.

The recruiters were unresponsive for some time. When they finally responded, they stated I received a "No Hire" for both rounds without providing specific feedback. I wanted to understand why I was not hired in the first round, as it appeared interviewers rejected me simply because they wanted to.

I feel my time was wasted being insulted by Microsoft employees. The preparation I invested for these interviews led to this outcome. As I did not anticipate this, I could not have known until I experienced it.

In hindsight, it is better to be rejected by unprofessional managers than to work with them and regret it later, as one spends a significant portion of their time at the workplace. I have documentation proving I provided correct answers and evidence that the interviewer intentionally gave a "No Hire." I intend to expose this interviewer one day, and through that, I will expose Microsoft and this Data Security team for prejudice during interviews.

LRU Cache LLD

The Earliest Moment When Everyone Becomes Friends https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/the-earliest-moment-when-everyone-become-friends/