Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) Interview Experience - Sydney, Australia
Process
The first round is a phone interview. It covers your past experience, C/C++ basics, the difference between C++ and Java, and how to identify a heavier ball among 12 in 3 weighings.
The second round is an on-site interview. You will meet with 3-4 interviewers during the day.
The first interviewer asked me how to calculate the sum of a binary tree at a certain level. The second asked me to write code to check if a string is a palindrome. The third was about the Tic-Tac-Toe game. I was asked to write a function to check if someone has won at the current board situation.
Questions
The third question is a bit unexpected. I was spending a lot of time thinking how to write this efficiently, but didn't finish it.
I should just write a straightforward one and try to improve it later.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 2 interview experiences for the Microsoft Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) role in Sydney, Australia.
Success Rate
Microsoft's interview process for their Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) roles in Sydney, Australia is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Microsoft's Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) interview process in Sydney, Australia.
Microsoft Work Experiences
- 3.0Good Work, Late HoursSoftware Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Former EmployeeNew York, Missouri, United StatesMarch 7, 2013Pros: Good working condition and less payment.Cons: Late working hours is the reason.
- 1.0A company drunk on money that sees us as numbers; but there are pockets with good coworkersSoftware Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesSeptember 18, 2008Pros: The people are extremely smart, motivated, and fun to work with.Cons: The company is not truly invested in growing employees to be what they want. Rather, they want to grow us to be more efficient where we currently are. For example, there is a long, dry gulch between the SDET and SDE roles. Even though some people have made the transition successfully, there is active discouragement by test leadership when attempting to make this transition. The company is lost trying to make money and has become scared to do anything innovative. The coolest products are handcuffed to profitability expectations before the idea is even baked, causing the best ideas to never bubble to the top. Since there is such a high technical bar, incompetence moves into leadership to survive, which leads to the laziest workers in the middle. The review process is a joke. Can you say bell curve?
- 3.0Mixed - depends on the groupSoftware Development Engineer In Test (SDET) • Current EmployeeDecember 31, 2010Pros: I had one group that was pretty good with organization and process, so that folks didn't feel too overwhelmed and knew what their priorities should be. There was reasonable work-life balance as well. The work could be interesting, although with competition between leads, there was some cherry-picking of assignments away from those who were interested.Cons: Another group was terrible. There was no coordination between the different teams, and too many "high priorities" at once. It was not clear whether the right things were happening. There are so many teams in a company of 90,000+ people that it really doesn't matter whether I name it or not; your chances of arriving there are minuscule.
Microsoft Interview Questions
