Software Development Engineer Interview Experience - Redmond, Washington
Process
They flew me in for a full-day interview.
I was greeted in the morning by HR and shuttled off to meet the people I would be working with for interviews.
It started well but went downhill. They were very aggressive with the questions they asked and how they went about it. I like to think through my answers verbally, but anytime I said something they didn't like, they would derail my train of thought, picking away at it and making it difficult to approach things systematically.
Overall, the technical questions weren't that difficult, but their interview style made the process difficult and somewhat unpleasant.
Questions
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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
- 4.0Stable Role, Too Many MeetingsSoftware Development Engineer • Current EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesSeptember 10, 2021Pros: The large organization provides stability and visa benefits.Cons: A lot of work and time was spent on meetings and management processes.
- 2.0Plenty of rote, unexciting work; twenty-plus-year-old codebasesSoftware Development Engineer • Former EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesJanuary 25, 2013Pros: Hours were flexible; the manager did not micromanage; the coworkers were bright; the health insurance was excellent. If you are lucky (and very talented), you might get to work on something very interesting. The company is huge, and moving around from team to team can expose one to a variety of technologies.Cons: Disclosure: I was working on a very old piece of software and had little exposure to some of the newer projects at MS. Furthermore, I found the weather unbearably gloomy (Seattle), which no doubt played a role in my overall dissatisfaction. Relatively few employees really get to contribute meaningfully; the rest are primarily engaged in useless work. The salary was relatively low. There was no feeling of passion of any kind in 80% of my coworkers. Internal "morale" meetings were a joke. There is an excessive focus on individual features as opposed to providing a cohesive user experience.
- 4.0Big company, minimal chance of shipping codeSoftware Development Engineer • Current EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesDecember 18, 2012Pros: Awesome benefits, 9-to-5 job.Cons: Big company, lost in the crowd.
Microsoft Interview Questions
