Microsoft

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) Interview Experience - Redmond, Washington

February 1, 2011

Positive ExperienceGot Offer

Process

I was contacted via email and informed that I had been selected for a phone interview. They asked for a convenient date and time, and on the selected date and time, I received a call.

The interviewer began by asking about myself and why I wanted to work at Microsoft. I provided the basic information I had written down, and then we moved on to more code-related questions.

I was asked to design an elevator for a hospital and to answer questions such as "What is good code?"

The interviewer never gave any hints as to whether I was doing well, but the next day, I received a call stating that I would be brought in for the next round of interviews.

Questions

Design an elevator that is going to be used in a hospital.

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 128 interview experiences for the Microsoft Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) role in Redmond, Washington.

Success Rate

49%

Pass Rate

Microsoft's interview process for their Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) roles in Redmond, Washington is fairly selective, failing a large portion of engineers who go through it.

Experience Rating

Positive66%

Neutral23%

Negative12%

Candidates reported having very good feelings for Microsoft's Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) interview process in Redmond, Washington.

Microsoft Work Experiences

Your experience and career growth depends on your lead

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

January 18, 2012

Pros: There are some very smart, passionate people working there. When you're on a good team, it doesn't seem like work. Employees feel excited and empowered. The pay and benefits are good, and many people have their own office.

Cons: Your career growth and rewards are highly dependent on how well you get along with your manager, how much they'll fight for you, and how effective they are at working the system. Depending on your organization, there can be a lot of reorgs, and your experience and time at Microsoft account for zero if leadership doesn't know you. Lately, Microsoft has been making sweeping changes, such as "a person must be at X number level to have Y position," despite whether or not individuals have been working in and doing well at Y positions for years. Rather than promote the individual to the new level requirement, they are told they can no longer have that position.

Your experience and career growth depends on your lead

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

January 18, 2012

Pros: There are some very smart, passionate people working there. When you're on a good team, it doesn't seem like work. Employees feel excited and empowered. The pay and benefits are good, and many people have their own office.

Cons: Your career growth and rewards are highly dependent on how well you get along with your manager, how much they'll fight for you, and how effective they are at working the system. Depending on your organization, there can be a lot of reorgs, and your experience and time at Microsoft account for zero if leadership doesn't know you. Lately, Microsoft has been making sweeping changes, such as "a person must be at X number level to have Y position," despite whether or not individuals have been working in and doing well at Y positions for years. Rather than promote the individual to the new level requirement, they are told they can no longer have that position.

Great Place to Work

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

August 18, 2010

Pros: Great opportunities for growth, and the benefits and pay are amazing. It is a very flexible workplace if you want time off or want a flex-schedule. I know many people who work from home one or more days a week. It is also a very diverse workplace, which promotes interesting conversations and expands your own cultural knowledge.

Cons: It is a competitive workplace, so you need to be aware of the intentions and motives of some of your coworkers. This is definitely more of a problem in some departments than others. Personally, my division does not have any problems with this, but I have heard stories from friends. Another con is that in some divisions, the senior management is not very effective at communicating their leadership and decisions.

Great Place to Work

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

August 18, 2010

Pros: Great opportunities for growth, and the benefits and pay are amazing. It is a very flexible workplace if you want time off or want a flex-schedule. I know many people who work from home one or more days a week. It is also a very diverse workplace, which promotes interesting conversations and expands your own cultural knowledge.

Cons: It is a competitive workplace, so you need to be aware of the intentions and motives of some of your coworkers. This is definitely more of a problem in some departments than others. Personally, my division does not have any problems with this, but I have heard stories from friends. Another con is that in some divisions, the senior management is not very effective at communicating their leadership and decisions.

Good and Bad

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Former Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

October 5, 2012

Pros: Good working environment, lots of smart people. Good salary and benefits. Easy enough to move to different teams/divisions if you want to work on something different.

Cons: They do pretty much everything, so you might get stuck working on a less-than-exciting part of a product that no one has ever heard of. There are also too many layers of management; it's too big of a company.

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Former Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

October 5, 2012

Pros: Good working environment, lots of smart people. Good salary and benefits. Easy enough to move to different teams/divisions if you want to work on something different.

Cons: They do pretty much everything, so you might get stuck working on a less-than-exciting part of a product that no one has ever heard of. There are also too many layers of management; it's too big of a company.

Your experience and career growth depends on your lead

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

January 18, 2012

Pros: There are some very smart, passionate people working there. When you're on a good team, it doesn't seem like work. Employees feel excited and empowered. The pay and benefits are good, and many people have their own office.

Cons: Your career growth and rewards are highly dependent on how well you get along with your manager, how much they'll fight for you, and how effective they are at working the system. Depending on your organization, there can be a lot of reorgs, and your experience and time at Microsoft account for zero if leadership doesn't know you. Lately, Microsoft has been making sweeping changes, such as "a person must be at X number level to have Y position," despite whether or not individuals have been working in and doing well at Y positions for years. Rather than promote the individual to the new level requirement, they are told they can no longer have that position.

2.0
Your experience and career growth depends on your lead
Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
January 18, 2012
Pros: There are some very smart, passionate people working there. When you're on a good team, it doesn't seem like work. Employees feel excited and empowered. The pay and benefits are good, and many people have their own office.
Cons: Your career growth and rewards are highly dependent on how well you get along with your manager, how much they'll fight for you, and how effective they are at working the system. Depending on your organization, there can be a lot of reorgs, and your experience and time at Microsoft account for zero if leadership doesn't know you. Lately, Microsoft has been making sweeping changes, such as "a person must be at X number level to have Y position," despite whether or not individuals have been working in and doing well at Y positions for years. Rather than promote the individual to the new level requirement, they are told they can no longer have that position.

Great Place to Work

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

August 18, 2010

Pros: Great opportunities for growth, and the benefits and pay are amazing. It is a very flexible workplace if you want time off or want a flex-schedule. I know many people who work from home one or more days a week. It is also a very diverse workplace, which promotes interesting conversations and expands your own cultural knowledge.

Cons: It is a competitive workplace, so you need to be aware of the intentions and motives of some of your coworkers. This is definitely more of a problem in some departments than others. Personally, my division does not have any problems with this, but I have heard stories from friends. Another con is that in some divisions, the senior management is not very effective at communicating their leadership and decisions.

5.0
Great Place to Work
Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
August 18, 2010
Pros: Great opportunities for growth, and the benefits and pay are amazing. It is a very flexible workplace if you want time off or want a flex-schedule. I know many people who work from home one or more days a week. It is also a very diverse workplace, which promotes interesting conversations and expands your own cultural knowledge.
Cons: It is a competitive workplace, so you need to be aware of the intentions and motives of some of your coworkers. This is definitely more of a problem in some departments than others. Personally, my division does not have any problems with this, but I have heard stories from friends. Another con is that in some divisions, the senior management is not very effective at communicating their leadership and decisions.

Good and Bad

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Former Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

October 5, 2012

Pros: Good working environment, lots of smart people. Good salary and benefits. Easy enough to move to different teams/divisions if you want to work on something different.

Cons: They do pretty much everything, so you might get stuck working on a less-than-exciting part of a product that no one has ever heard of. There are also too many layers of management; it's too big of a company.

4.0
Good and Bad
Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Former Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
October 5, 2012
Pros: Good working environment, lots of smart people. Good salary and benefits. Easy enough to move to different teams/divisions if you want to work on something different.
Cons: They do pretty much everything, so you might get stuck working on a less-than-exciting part of a product that no one has ever heard of. There are also too many layers of management; it's too big of a company.

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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