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Software Development Engineer Interview Experience - Seattle, Washington

January 1, 2008
Positive ExperienceNo Offer

Process

Rigorous interview lasting 8 hours. I met 7 different people, totaling 7 interviews.

The focus was primarily technical, covering data structures and algorithms through problem-solving. There were also some very theoretical questions on formal database and OO concepts.

Questions included:

  • How to perform specific operations in a linked list.
  • An algorithm to exit a maze given the constraint of not being able to turn left.
  • How to implement recursive queries.
  • Some C-related questions, among others.

Questions

How to come out of a maze, given that you can move one step at a time and you cannot turn left.

In an employee table, there is a self-reference to a boss (who is also an employee). How to find the number of people that work under a given person for their entire tree?

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 83 interview experiences for the Microsoft Software Development Engineer role in Seattle, Washington.

Success Rate

23%
Pass Rate

Microsoft's interview process for their Software Development Engineer roles in Seattle, Washington is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.

Experience Rating

Positive54%
Neutral31%
Negative14%

Candidates reported having very good feelings for Microsoft's Software Development Engineer interview process in Seattle, Washington.

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