Software Development Engineer Interview Experience - Redmond, Washington
Process
The process started with a university campus recruitment interview round.
When selected, I was invited for Microsoft on-campus interviews.
I interviewed with two teams at the SQL Server group, having three rounds of interviews with each team. Questions included coding, past work experience, and puzzles.
One coding problem was to reverse a singly linked list using recursion.
Questions
The most difficult question was a card game puzzle, related to probability. I spoke out what I was thinking. The interviewer was satisfied with my thinking process and did not give importance to the fact that I hadn't solved it completely.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 214 interview experiences for the Microsoft Software Development Engineer role in Redmond, Washington.
Success 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
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Microsoft's Software Development Engineer interview process in Redmond, Washington.
Microsoft Work Experiences
- 4.0Great Benefits, Room To GrowSoftware Development Engineer • Current EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesSeptember 20, 2013Pros: You have your own office to work, although Microsoft is moving to a more open-space environment. People are generally nice. Plenty of opportunities to grow and learn. The benefits are awesome. Overall, a great company to work for.Cons: Can get political at a senior level. At times, I get lost in complexity trying to achieve too much.
- 4.0Individual Contributor building great softwareSoftware Development Engineer • Current EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesJanuary 15, 2012Pros: The scale of the products like Windows, Office, Xbox, etc., is very inspiring and challenging. You'll appreciate the process of designing, building, and testing.Cons: Progress might not be as fast-paced as some startups or smaller companies. Your responsibilities might also be limited, and it takes hard work and a lot of time to gain recognition and move up the ladder.
- 2.0Lumbering, 90% politics, little innovation, poor review processSoftware Development Engineer • Former EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesOctober 24, 2013Pros: I worked there for 4 years, and not once did the paycheck bounce or come late. Also, if you want the chance to write code that will be used by millions of people, this is one place you can do it. There are others, though.Cons: I found it impossible to have much of an impact on anything as an IC at MS. Also, if you have unique skills that not every programmer has, like I do (PhD in theoretical physics), such skills are wasted at a place like MS. If you want to have an impact on things, I found much more success at a small company. It's the whole big fish/small pond thing, I suppose.
Microsoft Interview Questions
