Microsoft

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

September 1, 2008

Negative ExperienceNo Offer

Process

It all depends on the interviewer's appreciation. You are interviewed by people who are going to work with you. Even though I believe in professionalism, there is a lot of room for racism and any sort of bias in the interview process.

The objectivity of the process is questionable, but if you want to work with Microsoft, I guess you have to live with it.

I wasn't given lunch during an 8-hour interview loop, and the last interviewer spent like 2 hours asking me questions. This last interviewer didn't have much patience, and after a full day of answering questions with no lunch, I just wanted it to be over. I feel I was really close to making it, but seriously, I don't want to work with impatient people.

Questions

Given a numeric expression, evaluate the expression and give the result.

For instance: 4-3*12+300

How to detect loops on a single linked list?

Was this helpful?

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

Watch your back

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Former Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

November 30, 2014

Pros: Good health benefits are available for everyone at Microsoft. In the Seattle/Redmond area, you get a health club membership or can opt for $800/year in reimbursed expenses. Need a new bicycle to work out? You can use it for that. Microsoft has been good on resumes for getting interviews at my new company; however, most experienced Microsoft engineers fail their interviews because the work at Microsoft doesn't prepare them well to get hired outside. You have to prepare yourself.

Cons: Your work at Microsoft prepares you to do your job at Microsoft, not a lot on the outside. Every year someone would get a bad annual review, which meant everybody was on edge for the rest of the year. What does that mean? There is incentive for your coworkers to stab you in the back. Managers don't know much about your daily work, so presentation skills are vital to get the visibility you need to survive. No matter how much Microsoft wants you to have work-life balance, everyone ends up sacrificing it due to the threat of a bad review. That doesn't mean your boss wants to skewer you (he/she might; different story), it means everything is tinged with internal competition. Internal competition is more important than external, because the customers won't fire you, but your boss will.

Watch your back

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Former Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

November 30, 2014

Pros: Good health benefits are available for everyone at Microsoft. In the Seattle/Redmond area, you get a health club membership or can opt for $800/year in reimbursed expenses. Need a new bicycle to work out? You can use it for that. Microsoft has been good on resumes for getting interviews at my new company; however, most experienced Microsoft engineers fail their interviews because the work at Microsoft doesn't prepare them well to get hired outside. You have to prepare yourself.

Cons: Your work at Microsoft prepares you to do your job at Microsoft, not a lot on the outside. Every year someone would get a bad annual review, which meant everybody was on edge for the rest of the year. What does that mean? There is incentive for your coworkers to stab you in the back. Managers don't know much about your daily work, so presentation skills are vital to get the visibility you need to survive. No matter how much Microsoft wants you to have work-life balance, everyone ends up sacrificing it due to the threat of a bad review. That doesn't mean your boss wants to skewer you (he/she might; different story), it means everything is tinged with internal competition. Internal competition is more important than external, because the customers won't fire you, but your boss will.

Software development engineer in test

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

Pros: Job security, more work-life balance.

Cons: No clear career growth, difficulty in changing jobs within the company, slow pace, and not many top-notch people anymore.

Software development engineer in test

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

Pros: Job security, more work-life balance.

Cons: No clear career growth, difficulty in changing jobs within the company, slow pace, and not many top-notch people anymore.

Not a good start..

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

August 31, 2015

Pros: - Working with smart people. - Fun events on campus. - Capable hardware. - Own office.

Cons: - Luck of the draw with managers. I unfortunately have an inexperienced manager who changes expectations of me on a weekly basis. Some expectations are way off the mark, more in line with one who has been at the company for several years. - Lots of internal tools with no documentation. - No formal training to get up to speed. Expected to just learn things on the fly. This would be fine if things were documented better. Onboarding process varies with teams.

Not a good start..

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

August 31, 2015

Pros: - Working with smart people. - Fun events on campus. - Capable hardware. - Own office.

Cons: - Luck of the draw with managers. I unfortunately have an inexperienced manager who changes expectations of me on a weekly basis. Some expectations are way off the mark, more in line with one who has been at the company for several years. - Lots of internal tools with no documentation. - No formal training to get up to speed. Expected to just learn things on the fly. This would be fine if things were documented better. Onboarding process varies with teams.

Watch your back

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Former Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

November 30, 2014

Pros: Good health benefits are available for everyone at Microsoft. In the Seattle/Redmond area, you get a health club membership or can opt for $800/year in reimbursed expenses. Need a new bicycle to work out? You can use it for that. Microsoft has been good on resumes for getting interviews at my new company; however, most experienced Microsoft engineers fail their interviews because the work at Microsoft doesn't prepare them well to get hired outside. You have to prepare yourself.

Cons: Your work at Microsoft prepares you to do your job at Microsoft, not a lot on the outside. Every year someone would get a bad annual review, which meant everybody was on edge for the rest of the year. What does that mean? There is incentive for your coworkers to stab you in the back. Managers don't know much about your daily work, so presentation skills are vital to get the visibility you need to survive. No matter how much Microsoft wants you to have work-life balance, everyone ends up sacrificing it due to the threat of a bad review. That doesn't mean your boss wants to skewer you (he/she might; different story), it means everything is tinged with internal competition. Internal competition is more important than external, because the customers won't fire you, but your boss will.

2.0
Watch your back
Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Former Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
November 30, 2014
Pros: Good health benefits are available for everyone at Microsoft. In the Seattle/Redmond area, you get a health club membership or can opt for $800/year in reimbursed expenses. Need a new bicycle to work out? You can use it for that. Microsoft has been good on resumes for getting interviews at my new company; however, most experienced Microsoft engineers fail their interviews because the work at Microsoft doesn't prepare them well to get hired outside. You have to prepare yourself.
Cons: Your work at Microsoft prepares you to do your job at Microsoft, not a lot on the outside. Every year someone would get a bad annual review, which meant everybody was on edge for the rest of the year. What does that mean? There is incentive for your coworkers to stab you in the back. Managers don't know much about your daily work, so presentation skills are vital to get the visibility you need to survive. No matter how much Microsoft wants you to have work-life balance, everyone ends up sacrificing it due to the threat of a bad review. That doesn't mean your boss wants to skewer you (he/she might; different story), it means everything is tinged with internal competition. Internal competition is more important than external, because the customers won't fire you, but your boss will.

Software development engineer in test

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

Pros: Job security, more work-life balance.

Cons: No clear career growth, difficulty in changing jobs within the company, slow pace, and not many top-notch people anymore.

3.0
Software development engineer in test
Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
July 22, 2014
Pros: Job security, more work-life balance.
Cons: No clear career growth, difficulty in changing jobs within the company, slow pace, and not many top-notch people anymore.

Not a good start..

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

August 31, 2015

Pros: - Working with smart people. - Fun events on campus. - Capable hardware. - Own office.

Cons: - Luck of the draw with managers. I unfortunately have an inexperienced manager who changes expectations of me on a weekly basis. Some expectations are way off the mark, more in line with one who has been at the company for several years. - Lots of internal tools with no documentation. - No formal training to get up to speed. Expected to just learn things on the fly. This would be fine if things were documented better. Onboarding process varies with teams.

2.0
Not a good start..
Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
August 31, 2015
Pros: - Working with smart people. - Fun events on campus. - Capable hardware. - Own office.
Cons: - Luck of the draw with managers. I unfortunately have an inexperienced manager who changes expectations of me on a weekly basis. Some expectations are way off the mark, more in line with one who has been at the company for several years. - Lots of internal tools with no documentation. - No formal training to get up to speed. Expected to just learn things on the fly. This would be fine if things were documented better. Onboarding process varies with teams.

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.

Copyright © Taro