Software Development Engineer Interview Experience - Redmond, Washington
August 1, 2010
Neutral ExperienceNo Offer
Process
After some routine project background checks, the interviewer asked a question to find the occurrence of a given number in a sorted array:
java int getCount(int[] arr, int num)
He was expecting O(logN) in the worst case. The examples he gave were:
new int[] { 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,}, 2new int[] { 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,}, 2new int[] { 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,}, 2new int[] { 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,}, 2new int[] { 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,}, 2new int[] { 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,}, 2new int[] { 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,}, 2new int[] { 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,}, 2new int[] { 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,}, 2new int[] { 1,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,3}, 2new int[] {1,2,2,3,4,5,6,6,7,8,8,10}, 9
I did not do well during the phone interview.
The interviewer was very professional though.
Questions
int getCount(int[] arr, int num)
Was this helpful?
Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 214 interview experiences for the Microsoft Software Development Engineer role in Redmond, Washington.
Success Rate
45%
Pass Rate
Microsoft's interview process for their Software Development Engineer roles in Redmond, Washington is fairly selective, failing a large portion of engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Positive75%
Neutral17%
Negative8%
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Microsoft's Software Development Engineer interview process in Redmond, Washington.
Microsoft Work Experiences
4.0
Great company, great people
Software Development Engineer • Current Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
August 2, 2019
Pros: Working with smart and focused people.
A very friendly environment.
Cons: Easy to get lost because sometimes you feel whether you really fit in here.
3.0
Good Pay, Small Fish
Software Development Engineer • Current Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
January 27, 2015
Pros: Amazing benefits and pay. Can help create things billions of people use.
Cons: Big company, have to deal with a lot of politics. Really feel like a small fish in a big pond, not really getting a say in what happens with your feature.
2.0
Politics... Politics... Politics..
Software Development Engineer • Former Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
December 10, 2014
Pros: The personal offices, free insurance, nice morale events – all used to be...
Cons: No interesting relevant products to work on. Very political – all technical decisions are made on the basis of how to please the upper ups, who are usually, to put it mildly, less technically savvy. What is valued is so-called "visibility" rather than true quality of work. And the most ironic of all: while Microsoft is giving the customer one of the best development technologies and environments in the world, it is greatly lagging behind in using it for its own products. Management is dominated by the "old school" people who worked in the company in the 90s and sometimes in the 80s. They invested tremendous amounts of time in old-time coding skills and greatly resent, if not always openly resent, the move forward with technology and skills, coming up with ridiculous excuses to justify it.
- 4.0Great company, great peopleSoftware Development Engineer • Current EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesAugust 2, 2019Pros: Working with smart and focused people. A very friendly environment.Cons: Easy to get lost because sometimes you feel whether you really fit in here.
- 3.0Good Pay, Small FishSoftware Development Engineer • Current EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesJanuary 27, 2015Pros: Amazing benefits and pay. Can help create things billions of people use.Cons: Big company, have to deal with a lot of politics. Really feel like a small fish in a big pond, not really getting a say in what happens with your feature.
- 2.0Politics... Politics... Politics..Software Development Engineer • Former EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesDecember 10, 2014Pros: The personal offices, free insurance, nice morale events – all used to be...Cons: No interesting relevant products to work on. Very political – all technical decisions are made on the basis of how to please the upper ups, who are usually, to put it mildly, less technically savvy. What is valued is so-called "visibility" rather than true quality of work. And the most ironic of all: while Microsoft is giving the customer one of the best development technologies and environments in the world, it is greatly lagging behind in using it for its own products. Management is dominated by the "old school" people who worked in the company in the 90s and sometimes in the 80s. They invested tremendous amounts of time in old-time coding skills and greatly resent, if not always openly resent, the move forward with technology and skills, coming up with ridiculous excuses to justify it.
Microsoft Interview Questions
Explore Interview QuestionsTaro 75Google Interview QuestionsMeta Interview QuestionsAmazon Interview QuestionsApple Interview QuestionsNetflix Interview Questions
Explore Interview ExperiencesOpenAI Interview ExperiencesAnthropic Interview ExperiencesPerplexity Interview ExperiencesWindsurf Interview ExperiencesMistral AI Interview Experiences
