Microsoft

Software Development Engineer Interview Experience

July 1, 2011

Neutral ExperienceGot Offer

Process

Phone screening, then five in-person interviews.

Questions are pretty much SDE questions.

Questions

Operations on 2-dimensional bit-array

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 634 interview experiences for the Microsoft Software Development Engineer role in United States.

Success Rate

29%

Pass Rate

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

Experience Rating

Positive57%

Neutral32%

Negative11%

Candidates reported having very good feelings for Microsoft's Software Development Engineer interview process in United States.

Microsoft Work Experiences

Huge variability in work

Software Development Engineer • Current Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

Pros: Lots of friendly, helpful co-workers. Microsoft is such a large company that there are opportunities to work on a huge variety of projects, languages, and environments. Wonderful work-life balance. Everyone is very understanding if you have to take a few hours off here and there for family or other non-work reasons.

Cons: Management often seemed distant; you would meet with your manager for 30 minutes each week, then not see them again until the next week. A lot of time is eaten up with email, meetings, work tracking, etc., which can leave little time for dev work. Due to the company's massive size, you can end up assigned to a dead-end project, a poor manager, etc., and forgotten about.

Huge variability in work

Software Development Engineer • Current Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

Pros: Lots of friendly, helpful co-workers. Microsoft is such a large company that there are opportunities to work on a huge variety of projects, languages, and environments. Wonderful work-life balance. Everyone is very understanding if you have to take a few hours off here and there for family or other non-work reasons.

Cons: Management often seemed distant; you would meet with your manager for 30 minutes each week, then not see them again until the next week. A lot of time is eaten up with email, meetings, work tracking, etc., which can leave little time for dev work. Due to the company's massive size, you can end up assigned to a dead-end project, a poor manager, etc., and forgotten about.

Great if you have a good lead

Software Development Engineer • Former Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

Pros: Great benefits including good insurance coverage, a prime card, and company store products.

Cons: The old review system is awful. Maybe the new system is better.

Great if you have a good lead

Software Development Engineer • Former Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

Pros: Great benefits including good insurance coverage, a prime card, and company store products.

Cons: The old review system is awful. Maybe the new system is better.

Process-oriented, insecure superiors

Software Development Engineer • Former Employee

Hyderābād, Telangana, India

October 18, 2012

Pros: Good campus. Lots of activities. Free WP7 mobile phones.

Cons: Everybody tries to save their own self. Little blame game. Limited opportunity for mavericks and firefighters. 90% time wasted in meetings and writing emails to superiors so that they understand.

Process-oriented, insecure superiors

Software Development Engineer • Former Employee

Hyderābād, Telangana, India

October 18, 2012

Pros: Good campus. Lots of activities. Free WP7 mobile phones.

Cons: Everybody tries to save their own self. Little blame game. Limited opportunity for mavericks and firefighters. 90% time wasted in meetings and writing emails to superiors so that they understand.

Huge variability in work

Software Development Engineer • Current Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

Pros: Lots of friendly, helpful co-workers. Microsoft is such a large company that there are opportunities to work on a huge variety of projects, languages, and environments. Wonderful work-life balance. Everyone is very understanding if you have to take a few hours off here and there for family or other non-work reasons.

Cons: Management often seemed distant; you would meet with your manager for 30 minutes each week, then not see them again until the next week. A lot of time is eaten up with email, meetings, work tracking, etc., which can leave little time for dev work. Due to the company's massive size, you can end up assigned to a dead-end project, a poor manager, etc., and forgotten about.

3.0
Huge variability in work
Software Development Engineer • Current Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
August 2, 2015
Pros: Lots of friendly, helpful co-workers. Microsoft is such a large company that there are opportunities to work on a huge variety of projects, languages, and environments. Wonderful work-life balance. Everyone is very understanding if you have to take a few hours off here and there for family or other non-work reasons.
Cons: Management often seemed distant; you would meet with your manager for 30 minutes each week, then not see them again until the next week. A lot of time is eaten up with email, meetings, work tracking, etc., which can leave little time for dev work. Due to the company's massive size, you can end up assigned to a dead-end project, a poor manager, etc., and forgotten about.

Great if you have a good lead

Software Development Engineer • Former Employee

Redmond, Washington, United States

Pros: Great benefits including good insurance coverage, a prime card, and company store products.

Cons: The old review system is awful. Maybe the new system is better.

3.0
Great if you have a good lead
Software Development Engineer • Former Employee
Redmond, Washington, United States
April 28, 2014
Pros: Great benefits including good insurance coverage, a prime card, and company store products.
Cons: The old review system is awful. Maybe the new system is better.

Process-oriented, insecure superiors

Software Development Engineer • Former Employee

Hyderābād, Telangana, India

October 18, 2012

Pros: Good campus. Lots of activities. Free WP7 mobile phones.

Cons: Everybody tries to save their own self. Little blame game. Limited opportunity for mavericks and firefighters. 90% time wasted in meetings and writing emails to superiors so that they understand.

2.0
Process-oriented, insecure superiors
Software Development Engineer • Former Employee
Hyderābād, Telangana, India
October 18, 2012
Pros: Good campus. Lots of activities. Free WP7 mobile phones.
Cons: Everybody tries to save their own self. Little blame game. Limited opportunity for mavericks and firefighters. 90% time wasted in meetings and writing emails to superiors so that they understand.

Microsoft Interview Questions

Minimum Edge Reversals So Every Node Is Reachable

You're given a directed graph. Determine the minimum number of edges you need to reverse so that every node becomes reachable from node 0.

GraphsDynamic Programming

Two Sum

Find two numbers in a given array that add up to a specific target value, and return their indices. Essentially, you need to efficiently locate the pair that satisfies the sum requirement.

Valid Word

Determine if a given word is considered valid based on a specific set of rules or constraints. The goal is to check if the input string adheres to the specified validation criteria.

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