I applied online late last year and received a call for a phone screen after four months. Apparently, Microsoft had fired many recruiters and then ramped up hiring earlier this year.

The phone interview was a standard discussion on programming languages, a question on how to test a phone, and a coding question on binary search trees. It was straightforward.

Two weeks later, I was flown on-site for five interviews, including one with the recruiter/HR. The questions ranged from finding a string query within a string pattern, finding the smallest integer repeated an odd number of times, and removing characters from a string without using additional space, to testing questions such as testing a vending machine and testing a traffic system. The questions themselves were not overly challenging, but the focus was on identifying edge cases and bugs.

The interviews were easy to average, especially when compared to SDE positions. Unfortunately, the negative perception of the SDET position seems to hold true. I found that the recruiter and the lead were trying a little too hard to sell me on the SDET position, stating that it is considered the same level as SDE and/or PM, and that there is no difference in salary. If this were true, there would be no need to emphasize it during an interview.

I breezed through the questions with ease, and they likely deemed me not a good fit, even though I was interested in the position. The group was exciting to work for, and I have an interest in both development and testing.

Find a query pattern in a string.

Test a vending machine.