Software Development Engineer II Interview Experience - Redmond, Washington
December 1, 2016
Positive ExperienceGot Offer
Process
A friend from MS referenced me.
A recruiter quickly reached out with an online screening test. After passing the test, I received an invite for an onsite interview.
I had five 1-hour interviews onsite, all of which were one-on-one with different engineers and managers.
The whole process took two months, but it could have been faster, as I took a two-week vacation in the middle.
Questions
Basically, all interviewers asked a generic question to design some generic system/service. This was followed by further drilling down into particular details of the design and implementation of certain algorithms.
Some examples include:
- Dijkstra's shortest path
- Working with hash tables
- Unit testing
Was this helpful?
Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 38 interview experiences for the Microsoft Software Development Engineer II role in Redmond, Washington.
Success Rate
61%
Pass Rate
Microsoft's interview process for their Software Development Engineer II roles in Redmond, Washington is on the easier side as most engineers get an offer after going through it.
Experience Rating
Positive63%
Neutral24%
Negative13%
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Microsoft's Software Development Engineer II interview process in Redmond, Washington.
Microsoft Work Experiences
4.0
Overall great place to work
Software Development Engineer II • Former Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
August 29, 2014
Pros: Great benefits and great pay. If you want top pay for your level of work, this is definitely the place.
Challenging work, smart people, team-oriented culture, flexible work hours, and an overall friendly work environment.
Cons: It's very easy to get into a "great engineers don't always make great managers" situation. Often, an IC gets assigned or promoted to a management role, not at will but as an "expectation" of their level. This generally results in the team being under-managed or worse.
The company promotes a team-oriented culture and a "no rock star" approach, but the review process speaks otherwise.
Flexible work hours can be a double-edged sword. You should not expect every week to be exactly 40 work hours. (Although managers are generally cool with taking "rain checks," so you can work a 60-hour week, then skip Friday for the next three weeks.)
5.0
Liking it so far
Software Development Engineer II • Current Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
January 31, 2014
Pros: Choice of moving between Dev and PM roles, choice of changing teams within the company without greatly impacting the green card process.
Cons: The review system keeps changing. I need to see what the new system has in store.
4.0
It's been a great experience
Software Development Engineer II • Current Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
September 14, 2011
Pros: Get to work mostly on what I want. Microsoft paid for all my tuition for my computer science degree. Satisfied with promotion rate. Get to work with really smart people.
Cons: Performance reviews are based on a curve; they have you competing against individuals on your own team as well as the org you're in. So, it's sort of a dog-eat-dog world.
- 4.0Overall great place to workSoftware Development Engineer II • Former EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesAugust 29, 2014Pros: Great benefits and great pay. If you want top pay for your level of work, this is definitely the place. Challenging work, smart people, team-oriented culture, flexible work hours, and an overall friendly work environment.Cons: It's very easy to get into a "great engineers don't always make great managers" situation. Often, an IC gets assigned or promoted to a management role, not at will but as an "expectation" of their level. This generally results in the team being under-managed or worse. The company promotes a team-oriented culture and a "no rock star" approach, but the review process speaks otherwise. Flexible work hours can be a double-edged sword. You should not expect every week to be exactly 40 work hours. (Although managers are generally cool with taking "rain checks," so you can work a 60-hour week, then skip Friday for the next three weeks.)
- 5.0Liking it so farSoftware Development Engineer II • Current EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesJanuary 31, 2014Pros: Choice of moving between Dev and PM roles, choice of changing teams within the company without greatly impacting the green card process.Cons: The review system keeps changing. I need to see what the new system has in store.
- 4.0It's been a great experienceSoftware Development Engineer II • Current EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesSeptember 14, 2011Pros: Get to work mostly on what I want. Microsoft paid for all my tuition for my computer science degree. Satisfied with promotion rate. Get to work with really smart people.Cons: Performance reviews are based on a curve; they have you competing against individuals on your own team as well as the org you're in. So, it's sort of a dog-eat-dog world.
Microsoft Interview Questions
Explore Interview QuestionsTaro 75Google Interview QuestionsMeta Interview QuestionsAmazon Interview QuestionsApple Interview QuestionsNetflix Interview Questions
Explore Interview ExperiencesOpenAI Interview ExperiencesAnthropic Interview ExperiencesPerplexity Interview ExperiencesWindsurf Interview ExperiencesMistral AI Interview Experiences
