Software Development Engineer II Interview Experience - Redmond, Washington
June 1, 2016
Positive ExperienceGot Offer
Process
There was a meet and greet at a restaurant in my area. Microsoft paid for food and such.
Soon after, I received some emails and LinkedIn profiles, and then a phone interview.
I did well and went straight to the onsite.
It was a full day of interviews with four to five people. The last interview was tentative with the hiring manager, based on performance during the earlier interviews.
If you get that far, you can reasonably assume you'll receive an offer.
Questions
Due to an NDA, I can't share specifics, but you might want to take a look at:
- Trees (n-ary)
- Recursion
- Scalability and Memory Limits
- Algorithms
- Data structures
- Big O
If you pick C++, KNOW ALL THE STL DATA STRUCTURES. Know their average and worst-case complexity for common operations. Be prepared to optimize or discuss trade-offs in your design.
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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
5.0
You work here for intellectual rewards more than anything else
Software Development Engineer II • Current Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
August 30, 2010
Pros: Fantastic benefits and perks (gym pass, the Connector bus, Prime card, etc., etc.).
Excellent process that encourages intra-company moves.
Can work on world-changing software. Or not. Your choice, really.
Can rotate and try multiple roles within reason.
Excellent internal training programs.
Coworkers.
Cons: Upward mobility is very slow unless one is in the 95th %ile of their peer group.
Grading/review curves are the bane of employee morale more often than not.
Mistakes (wrong group, wrong project, wrong manager) take a long time to erase from your internal career 'memory'.
Test/dev/PM silos end up costing agility and create turf wars.
Innovation, while it exists in bundles, is somewhat haphazard, and it feels like the company is constantly chasing taillights in many areas.
Need a new, hardcore visionary to drive our consumer software/services vision.
4.0
Opportunity to work on products used by the whole world
Software Development Engineer II • Former Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
July 12, 2015
Pros: You get a chance to make a difference and work on high-impact products.
You get to work and learn with a lot of smart people.
Good pay and benefits.
Cons: Some teams have more bureaucracy than others.
Sometimes you feel that you are just a cog in a big machine.
In most teams, it is hard to grow career-wise without sacrificing some work-life balance. There are a lot of people there who work hard and put in a lot of extra time. If you don't do the same, then you may not get promotions or a huge bonus.
4.0
A great company with all kinds of people
Software Development Engineer II • Former Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
March 13, 2016
Pros: Great company.
Great benefits.
Excellent resources at the execution level.
A lot of great folks at senior management.
Cons: Middle management can be an issue for career development.
- 5.0You work here for intellectual rewards more than anything elseSoftware Development Engineer II • Current EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesAugust 30, 2010Pros: Fantastic benefits and perks (gym pass, the Connector bus, Prime card, etc., etc.). Excellent process that encourages intra-company moves. Can work on world-changing software. Or not. Your choice, really. Can rotate and try multiple roles within reason. Excellent internal training programs. Coworkers.Cons: Upward mobility is very slow unless one is in the 95th %ile of their peer group. Grading/review curves are the bane of employee morale more often than not. Mistakes (wrong group, wrong project, wrong manager) take a long time to erase from your internal career 'memory'. Test/dev/PM silos end up costing agility and create turf wars. Innovation, while it exists in bundles, is somewhat haphazard, and it feels like the company is constantly chasing taillights in many areas. Need a new, hardcore visionary to drive our consumer software/services vision.
- 4.0Opportunity to work on products used by the whole worldSoftware Development Engineer II • Former EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesJuly 12, 2015Pros: You get a chance to make a difference and work on high-impact products. You get to work and learn with a lot of smart people. Good pay and benefits.Cons: Some teams have more bureaucracy than others. Sometimes you feel that you are just a cog in a big machine. In most teams, it is hard to grow career-wise without sacrificing some work-life balance. There are a lot of people there who work hard and put in a lot of extra time. If you don't do the same, then you may not get promotions or a huge bonus.
- 4.0A great company with all kinds of peopleSoftware Development Engineer II • Former EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesMarch 13, 2016Pros: Great company. Great benefits. Excellent resources at the execution level. A lot of great folks at senior management.Cons: Middle management can be an issue for career development.
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