Phone screening with a recruiter. It was not really technical.

More details below.

Then, a technical interview with two different engineers, each 45 minutes.

The hardest part was getting my resume picked up for an interview. I had to take TA gigs and contribute to research in any way I could. A prior internship at a bank as an IT summer analyst also helped, along with some diversity events with a few banks and competitors.

I was referred for a PM internship but was eventually interviewed for SWE. So, I don’t think it really matters what position you got referred for, as long as you’re in their system.

In fall 2022, the phone screening asked for:

• "Tell me about a time you had a disagreement in group work and how did you handle it?"
• "Explain recursion to me like you would explain it to your grandmother."

Then, in the technical interview, there were two 45-minute questions.

The first was an easy LeetCode Linked List question. I couldn’t finish it in time, but I was able to walk through what was missing to solve it.

The second was an easy LeetCode strings question. I finished it 10 minutes early and was able to test it.

After that, I talked to my interviewer about myself and why Microsoft.

I got accepted a few days afterward.

Bottom line: it’s not as important to know the answer as much as it is to be able to explain it and communicate your thought process.

Again, this was in 2022, before the layoffs and cuts on recruiting. Best of luck.