Applied online via the website. About a month later, I received a request for a phone interview. The phone interview lasted approximately 30 minutes and primarily focused on which parts of software development you prefer (UI, Backend, Application layer, etc.). It also included a test question, such as "how would you test a ____?" and a short math/logic brainteaser.

About three weeks later, I received an email stating they wished to skip the next round of phone interviews and fly me to Seattle for the final interview rounds. Due to the holidays, the process was slightly delayed, but I arranged my flights and hotel, and my interview day was scheduled.

The entire trip was excellent; I felt well taken care of. They offer generous reimbursement for expenses like food and transportation around the city. On my interview day, they even provided taxi vouchers, allowing me to explore Seattle without personal expense, as the charges would be billed directly to Microsoft.

The on-site interview day is long and challenging, yet it remained enjoyable. It begins at the recruitment building with other candidates. Your recruiter will call you out individually for an initial meeting. Afterward, you will be transported via Microsoft Connect vehicles to the building where your potential team works.

I had four technical interviews. Each interview started with a discussion about my resume, future plans, and my time in school. Then, we worked through one or two programming problems. The technical problems were industry-standard, covering topics from string manipulation to data structures and graph theory. It's crucial to talk through your thought process with the interviewer. All interviewers asked probing questions to gauge my depth of knowledge. For instance, when HashSets were discussed, I was asked to explain the implementation of a hashing function. However, it's perfectly acceptable to admit when you don't know something at a certain point.

They seem quite flexible regarding the programming language used. One interviewer even began by reassuring me that he wasn't a compiler and wouldn't penalize minor syntax errors, which eased my concerns about small mistakes.

There was also a lunch interview, where a voucher was provided to cover lunch for both myself and the interviewer. The conversation during lunch was light, focusing mostly on my resume and past projects.

Following these discussions, I met with my recruiter back at the recruitment building. My interviews ran from 10 am to 5 pm. As mentioned, I received taxi vouchers and spent the evening exploring Seattle before returning to my hotel and catching my flight the next morning. I am very excited to start!

They're not trying to trick you; they're just trying to see you think critically.

For example, instead of iterating over a string from left to right, a certain solution could perform more efficiently by iterating right to left.