I was interviewing for an SDE position and felt prepared. I left completely demoralized.

The interviewers were certainly nice, and Microsoft does a great job of making sure that you are comfortable. They paid for the flight, lodging, food, rental car, etc.

When I arrived, I spoke with an HR representative who seemed distant and unengaged with our conversation.

My second interview was odd in that the discussion focused entirely on arcane aspects of SQL and some generic problem-solving. That was fine, but then the interviewer posed a string interpolation problem on the whiteboard and asked me to write an algorithm.

I am "a-ok" with problem-solving, but I am one of the cerebral 'think it out' type of developers. Tossing ideas on a whiteboard isn't how I do things, and I think the interviewer picked up on this. Ultimately, I came close to solving it, but I was feeling a bit pressured and out of my comfort zone.

The third interview was with a very, very senior SDE who proceeded to grill me on C/C++, memory allocation, stack frames, register allocation, etc. While my resume reflected some commercial C/C++ experience, that was over 10 years ago; since then, I have focused almost entirely on Java/.NET and other languages. More importantly, the position I was interviewing for didn't require any C/C++ experience.

The interviewer then chose to present a problem that involved the development of a 'move' algorithm for cribbage. This was another 'whiteboard' problem where, given enough time, I could have solved it, but they really, really put the screws to you and expect you to think on your feet, quickly.

The last interview was a 'fluff' interview during lunch, and I could tell the interviewer was just passing time. Another whiteboard problem followed where I had to develop a base-26 version of itoa(), which was simple enough, but I messed up on a bit of syntax.

The bottom line is that while I was certainly capable of solving any of the problems, the medium/platform they expect you to solve them on is totally incompatible with my personal comfort zone.

Am I smart enough to work at MS? Absolutely.

I have over 20 years of industry experience using a variety of Microsoft tools and platforms. I also have a proven track record of architecting, developing, and delivering secure, high-volume websites and enterprise systems. This is no BS; I can do the job.

However, there is a definite culture clash between MS and me.

I have been told that other dev groups at MS are similar in their approach and style, which is why I will not be interviewing there anytime soon.

Write an algorithm that will determine the correct moves for a given cribbage board.