Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) Interview Experience - Redmond, Washington
January 1, 2008
Positive ExperienceGot Offer
Process
The interview process is as follows:
- A recruiter contacts you, understands what you are looking for, your experience, skills, and passion, finds a good match, and schedules a tech screen.
- Phone interview/tech screen: This is typically one or two sessions, depending on the candidate's location (local/overseas). Each session lasts 45 minutes to 1 hour and is technical, involving coding. If the tech screen goes well, an on-site interview is requested.
- On-site interview: This consists of five 1:1 interviews covering coding, design, and testing, including whiteboard coding.
After the on-site review, I received the offer within a couple of business days. Overall, I am very satisfied with the interview process.
Questions
Given a document and a set of keywords, find the shortest text from the document that contains all the keywords.
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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
3.0
It slowly chips my passion away, day by day
Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
July 20, 2014
Pros: Good benefits, good work-life balance, which the company stresses.
Cons: Unless your project is high priority, it's hard to make an impact. Most of the people that I worked with have families to take care of, so there is really no socializing with your coworkers in my case.
When I first started, I thought I could make a difference, but looking back, I barely scratched the surface.
4.0
Great Team, Corporate Bureaucracy
Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Former Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
August 27, 2015
Pros: I was lucky enough to mainly work with really good, hardworking people. The managers that I reported to directly were very cool, and when I showed that I wanted more responsibility, they had no trouble trusting me and gave it to me with little oversight aside from key milestones, etc.
Cons: It is a massive global corporation, which means there is no real heart when it comes to the big decisions to cut or to keep.
Also, all too often upper management is pushing to get things done that can't get done, at least not well. That goes against my drive to do things correctly.
It is exceedingly difficult to go from contractor to FTE.
1.0
Negative environment, growth opportunities are slowing down
Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
July 19, 2014
Pros: work-life balance, benefits, stock options, challenging work environment
Cons: Worst place for an SDET.
All SDETs fear eventually getting fired or laid off.
Devs, depending on the team, are mostly arrogant and treat SDETs as second-class citizens.
The environment is currently extremely negative after Nadella started laying off people.
- 3.0It slowly chips my passion away, day by daySoftware Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesJuly 20, 2014Pros: Good benefits, good work-life balance, which the company stresses.Cons: Unless your project is high priority, it's hard to make an impact. Most of the people that I worked with have families to take care of, so there is really no socializing with your coworkers in my case. When I first started, I thought I could make a difference, but looking back, I barely scratched the surface.
- 4.0Great Team, Corporate BureaucracySoftware Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Former EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesAugust 27, 2015Pros: I was lucky enough to mainly work with really good, hardworking people. The managers that I reported to directly were very cool, and when I showed that I wanted more responsibility, they had no trouble trusting me and gave it to me with little oversight aside from key milestones, etc.Cons: It is a massive global corporation, which means there is no real heart when it comes to the big decisions to cut or to keep. Also, all too often upper management is pushing to get things done that can't get done, at least not well. That goes against my drive to do things correctly. It is exceedingly difficult to go from contractor to FTE.
- 1.0Negative environment, growth opportunities are slowing downSoftware Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesJuly 19, 2014Pros: work-life balance, benefits, stock options, challenging work environmentCons: Worst place for an SDET. All SDETs fear eventually getting fired or laid off. Devs, depending on the team, are mostly arrogant and treat SDETs as second-class citizens. The environment is currently extremely negative after Nadella started laying off people.
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