Process
I started with an on-campus technical interview, and then I was invited out to Seattle to complete five consecutive technical interviews.
I felt they were only interested in testing me on the spot; I definitely suffer under high-pressure situations like that.
I didn’t feel that this was a good environment to show what I can do code-wise, and they barely asked me questions about my extensive industry experience. They also really didn’t care to get to know me at all.
Questions
On campus, I was asked to solve a simple string manipulation problem and a text search problem.
In Seattle, I had five back-to-back technical interviews. This was exhausting and much higher pressure, as you have several engineers watching you work.
I was asked:
- Several difficult graph search problems
- Difficult sorting problems
- One weird linked-list dictionary problem
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 999 interview experiences for the Microsoft Software Engineer role in United States.
Success Rate
Microsoft's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in the United States is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Microsoft's Software Engineer interview process in United States.
Microsoft Work Experiences
- 3.0Nice job, but boringSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeRedmond, Washington, United StatesMay 23, 2021Pros: Pay is good. I'm told the benefits are nice, too. Work can get pretty easy sometimes.Cons: It's pretty boring, all told. My experience has very much been: they tell me what to do, and I do it. I really hate my team's tech stack, too. I think I would literally be 1.5-2x more productive if I didn't have to fight/grope through our build system to accomplish stupidly basic tasks like adding unit tests and making sure DLLs end up in the right directories.
- 4.0Life at MicrosoftSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeBengaluru, Karnataka, IndiaFebruary 13, 2020Pros: In this fast-paced world, if you want a company that cares for you, then it is Microsoft. Microsoft's motto is that if the employee is happy, he/she can contribute more to the work.Cons: Competitive pay might be small.
- 5.0Good place to workSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeJanuary 20, 2022Pros: Good pay Good work-life balanceCons: Tight deadlines sometimes, but otherwise good.
Microsoft Interview Questions
