Microsoft

Software Development Engineer Interview Experience - Canada

November 21, 2013

Neutral ExperienceNo Offer

Process

Applied through university and had an on-campus interview.

It involved fairly standard questions, such as:

Why Microsoft?
String coding questions (find all substrings of a given length, count occurrence of letters in a string).

On the whole, it was fairly straightforward. The recruiter is also interested to know what team you would like to join and why.

Questions

Find all substrings of a given length in a string.

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 68 interview experiences for the Microsoft Software Development Engineer role in Canada.

Success Rate

16%

Pass Rate

Microsoft's interview process for their Software Development Engineer roles in Canada is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.

Experience Rating

Positive49%

Neutral34%

Negative18%

Candidates reported having very good feelings for Microsoft's Software Development Engineer interview process in Canada.

Microsoft Work Experiences

Strong, solid company. More business than engineering focused, with lots of bureaucracy

Software Development Engineer • Former Employee

Pros: Good benefits, work-life balance is better than at newer generation tech companies (FB, Google, Amazon), a well-established company with virtually unlimited resources.

Cons: I'm sure it varies by team, but it often feels like the company fosters a more competitive than collaborative environment, even within the same team. Managers are hit-or-miss; your career can often depend on how lucky you were in getting a particular manager. It feels more "corporate" than other tech companies.

Strong, solid company. More business than engineering focused, with lots of bureaucracy

Software Development Engineer • Former Employee

Pros: Good benefits, work-life balance is better than at newer generation tech companies (FB, Google, Amazon), a well-established company with virtually unlimited resources.

Cons: I'm sure it varies by team, but it often feels like the company fosters a more competitive than collaborative environment, even within the same team. Managers are hit-or-miss; your career can often depend on how lucky you were in getting a particular manager. It feels more "corporate" than other tech companies.

Experiences at Microsoft

Software Development Engineer • Current Employee

Bellevue, Washington, United States

Pros: Vast variety in technologies and products one can work on. You can usually switch teams after 18 months with the current one, though employees usually work at their job for 2-3 years before moving teams. Good benefits.

Cons: You never really leave college. Performance reviews are peer-relative, and a fixed percentage (~20%) must receive a below-average review. It's a zero-sum game; no real teamwork is possible.

Experiences at Microsoft

Software Development Engineer • Current Employee

Bellevue, Washington, United States

Pros: Vast variety in technologies and products one can work on. You can usually switch teams after 18 months with the current one, though employees usually work at their job for 2-3 years before moving teams. Good benefits.

Cons: You never really leave college. Performance reviews are peer-relative, and a fixed percentage (~20%) must receive a below-average review. It's a zero-sum game; no real teamwork is possible.

Good working environment

Software Development Engineer • Current Employee

Pros: Nice benefits and perks all the time.

Cons: Too much politics in the workplace

Good working environment

Software Development Engineer • Current Employee

Pros: Nice benefits and perks all the time.

Cons: Too much politics in the workplace

Strong, solid company. More business than engineering focused, with lots of bureaucracy

Software Development Engineer • Former Employee

Pros: Good benefits, work-life balance is better than at newer generation tech companies (FB, Google, Amazon), a well-established company with virtually unlimited resources.

Cons: I'm sure it varies by team, but it often feels like the company fosters a more competitive than collaborative environment, even within the same team. Managers are hit-or-miss; your career can often depend on how lucky you were in getting a particular manager. It feels more "corporate" than other tech companies.

3.0
Strong, solid company. More business than engineering focused, with lots of bureaucracy
Software Development Engineer • Former Employee
May 29, 2014
Pros: Good benefits, work-life balance is better than at newer generation tech companies (FB, Google, Amazon), a well-established company with virtually unlimited resources.
Cons: I'm sure it varies by team, but it often feels like the company fosters a more competitive than collaborative environment, even within the same team. Managers are hit-or-miss; your career can often depend on how lucky you were in getting a particular manager. It feels more "corporate" than other tech companies.

Experiences at Microsoft

Software Development Engineer • Current Employee

Bellevue, Washington, United States

Pros: Vast variety in technologies and products one can work on. You can usually switch teams after 18 months with the current one, though employees usually work at their job for 2-3 years before moving teams. Good benefits.

Cons: You never really leave college. Performance reviews are peer-relative, and a fixed percentage (~20%) must receive a below-average review. It's a zero-sum game; no real teamwork is possible.

3.0
Experiences at Microsoft
Software Development Engineer • Current Employee
Bellevue, Washington, United States
June 30, 2012
Pros: Vast variety in technologies and products one can work on. You can usually switch teams after 18 months with the current one, though employees usually work at their job for 2-3 years before moving teams. Good benefits.
Cons: You never really leave college. Performance reviews are peer-relative, and a fixed percentage (~20%) must receive a below-average review. It's a zero-sum game; no real teamwork is possible.

Good working environment

Software Development Engineer • Current Employee

Pros: Nice benefits and perks all the time.

Cons: Too much politics in the workplace

3.0
Good working environment
Software Development Engineer • Current Employee
April 27, 2019
Pros: Nice benefits and perks all the time.
Cons: Too much politics in the workplace

Microsoft Interview Questions

Minimum Edge Reversals So Every Node Is Reachable

You're given a directed graph. Determine the minimum number of edges you need to reverse so that every node becomes reachable from node 0.

GraphsDynamic Programming

Two Sum

Find two numbers in a given array that add up to a specific target value, and return their indices. Essentially, you need to efficiently locate the pair that satisfies the sum requirement.

Valid Word

Determine if a given word is considered valid based on a specific set of rules or constraints. The goal is to check if the input string adheres to the specified validation criteria.

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