Microsoft Interview Questions & Reviews
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Updated Feb 10, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
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Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 1044 ratings 
“Average” Interview
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Interview Experience [?] Based on 1044 ratings
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| 11–20 of 1,044 Microsoft Interviews | Sort by |
Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) at Microsoft
Posted Feb 4, 2012
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jan 2011 (took a day)
I got a call from their HR and he arranged the interview .
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
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Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Program Manager at Microsoft
Posted Feb 4, 2012
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Dec 2011 (took 2 days)
4 rounds of interviews.
round 1 -
basic coding skills - C questions on strings, arrays
design question - redesign your favorite email client. I chose gmail. The interviewer opened up his gmail account on his laptop and asked me to redesign it.
round 2 -
once again basic coding questions - lowest common ancestor, couple of string related questions
design question - design an airport. He just gave me this statement and then kept mum. I realized he was testing my requirement gathering ability - I started asking him questions like where do you want to build the airport, is the location near to the place, is the place a busy place, is it a major finance hub, etc etc
round 3 -
one design question only - how would you re-design MS paint software?
round 4 - [final AA round]
This was a grilling but fun round.
The interviewer asked me a wide range of questions - from design to coding to business strategies to testing based questions.
#1 design a fridge for blind
#2 couple of coding question based on strings, linked lists - but he did not want me to write code, instead explain the algorithm verbally with diagrams
#3 design a new kind of file system. Follow up question was - jot down the test cases for this feature.
#4 suppose a business comes to you with an idea of e-coupons and m-coupons, what sort of marketing and business strategies will you do for this? - here at times he kept asking me for some tech details as well.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details
NA
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
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Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Development Engineer at Microsoft
Posted Feb 9, 2012 — 0 of 1 people found this helpful
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jan 2012 in Seattle, WA (took 3 days)
I have been notified that the interview will be on December, however, they change the date to January. So I have too much more time to prepare. The interview involves much more design questions and only a little code question. It is quite tired to be interviewed from 9:00 am to nearly 6:00 pm with 5 persons. They all are very nice and smart. My feeling for the interview is very positive. Because one of my interviewer said I want you to do....blabla after interview. And one of them also give me his thumb. However, I still don't get the offer. I guess it is because my fault for analyze the complexity of a code. I was too tired and said n square, however, I mean 2 to the order of n....
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
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Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Developer at Microsoft
Posted Feb 3, 2012
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Nov 2010 (took a day)
Was asked two behavoir questions (tell me about a time you worked on a team, tell me about an engineering/cs project you've done). Then, two technical questions (how do you reverse the letters in a sentence, how do you find the missing number in an array of consecutive numbers) Usually, interviewers let you choose your language, but I was told I could only code in C, which I found strange.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
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Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
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OD Consulting at Microsoft
Posted Feb 2, 2012
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Sep 2010 (took 1 week)
I am a former exec with HP and Agilent with extensive OD experience. But, the last 8 years I've spent the majority of my time on the 'mommy track' doing very limited freelance work in my field.
The fact they were willing to interview me was an unexpected delight. I has two phone interviews, one with the internal recruiter and another with a hiring manager. The demands of the position made it pretty clear early-on that the open position was not a good match for me at the time, but because of my prior experience and contacts, I was able to both share and gain a lot of information about what was happening today in the field, as well as who was hiring and for what. I didn't get the job, but ended up with two networking partners that introduced me to others.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Program Manager at Microsoft
Posted Feb 1, 2012
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2.0
Easy Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Nov 2011 in Seattle, WA (took 2+ weeks)
consisted of a one on one with recruiter then fly out to main camup for a superday consisted of five interviews made it to the last interview. thought i would get it but did not happen. was totally fine. interviews were very enjoyable. loved the questions as they were all relavent. spent the rest of time in seattle enjoying the city.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview and a Skills Test.
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Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Solution Sales Professional – Public Sector (Federal) at Microsoft
Posted Feb 1, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jan 2012 in Washington, DC (took a day)
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my interview experience. It was unlike any other interview I had ever done. I was very impressed with the approachability, professionalism and knowledgeability of my interviewers, respective to their job roles.
I arrived in the morning and immediately had my first of there 1:1 interviews. This interview was open ended in nature, the interviewer asked me broad, open ended questions about my career goals, strengths and interest to get a general sense of my "inner workings" as a person. We discussed the requirements of a sales role in great detail and I was asked how I would handle several "real world" sales situations. This interviewer was very open and honest about what the position entails and what was expected of potential hires.
The second 1:1 interview was shorter and a little "drier" that the others. I got the impression that the interviewer was tired from flying in as he wasn't very engaging or enthusiastic. This threw me a little bit, as the previous interviewer was very upbeat and enjoyable to speak with. The interviewer for my second session was very direct, asking me specific, practical questions about my qualifications for the job. He also gave a very candid overview of the position, even outlining some "cons" instead of just "pros".
My last 1:1 interview of the day was genuinely one of the best interviews I've ever had. My interviewer was so engaging and impressive that I felt compelled to keep in touch with him regardless of whether or not I received an offer. This particular interview was different in that the questions were borderline philosophical. We sent very little time talking about the actual position--instead, we had a conversation about my passions, goals in life, early childhood influences (yes!) and how a career at Microsoft fits into my overall life plan. I did receive one question that was a bit of a brain teaser--one of those "if a train leaves the station at X time..." questions, which in all honesty, did throw me off a bit because I was previously answering, broad, philosophical questions. I also learned more about the interviewer's role in the company which was not related to the position I was applying for, but honestly fascinating nonetheless. I cannot say enough good things about this particular interviewer; he even gave me candid feedback and insider "tips" at the end of my interview. He also encouraged me to keep in touch.
Not long after my interview, I was actually surprised to receive an email from the recruiter saying that they had chosen to go with another candidate. What was interesting, however, was that immediately after the "rejection" email, I received another from the Microsoft liaison (not the 3rd party recruiter) saying that I was a "very strong" candidate, that they were "impressed with my interview" and that they desired for me to interview for another position in Seattle where I might be a better fit. Although I was grateful for the offer to interview a second time, I declined because I chose to accept an offer with another company I was dealing with that I honestly believed would be the best for me at this point in my career. All in all, I had a very positive experience with Microsoft and I would absolutely interview with the company again in the future.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview and a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
IT at Microsoft
Posted Feb 1, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jan 2012 (took a day)
The Questions were really worthless... like computing factorial of an integer, extract vowels from a character array... The interviewers were really unprofessional and were not even ready to listen to what I was trying to explain...
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Software Development Engineer at Microsoft
Posted Feb 2, 2012
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Feb 2011 (took a day)
two teams - 5-6 ppl will interview you on the campus. If you have made it till the campus, make sure you enjoy the local cusines, etc etc.
OK, to the interview - confidence is the name of the game. easier said huh??
Well, though it might seem intimidating, you should keep your cool and solve the problems they throw at you or code they ask you to write. Show your willingness to work on the problem instead of saying "I dont know!"
Food is on Microsoft - so Enjoy!!
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University.
More Microsoft Software Development Engineer Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Public Relations at Microsoft
Posted Jan 31, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Dec 2011 in Redmond, WA (took 2 days)
Mine was an internal interview loop that lasted two days, two directors, two technical managers, hiring manager, peer, and GM. Microsoft tends to have what's called an AA (As Appropriate), which is when you know you're a serious contender. Many people never make it to the AA.
I had to send some emails to follow-up, but otherwise the process was thorough and professional. I must have been runner-up because they kept me on hold longer than they had initially noted.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I applied In-Person and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview and a Group/Panel Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
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