My initial interview was on campus at Purdue University. I went to our CS department's career fair and submitted my resume at the Microsoft booth. I also submitted an online resume. I was contacted within a week and was set up for the first interview.
The first interview was pretty standard from what I read online. Basic "Tell me about yourself", "What would be your ideal job?", What is it about Microsoft that makes you want to work for us". Think about these type of questions BEFORE your interview. In my case, there were tons of things I could have said. I had narrowed them down and planned what I would say if I encountered such questions....There was one coding question, which consisted of some basic string manipulation in C. I did okay on that question...At the end of the interview when they ask you if you have any questions, MAKE SURE YOU DO! Asking intelligent and insightful questions shows that you are really interested in the job. If you can come up with original questions rather than "So what do you do at Microsoft?", you may really impress your interviewer!
After the first interview, it was about a week until I heard back about my results. I made it to the 2nd round, and they were going to fly me out to Seattle. I had another offer from Booze Allen Hamilton, so they were very flexible and had me scheduled so I would have time to make a decision. I had about 3 weeks until I had to fly out to Seattle, so I started studying hardcore!
When I had originally submitted for interviews, I had put that I wanted to interview for an SDEV position. I didn't really understand the PM role and all that encompassed it. However, feedback from the 1st interview suggested that I interview as a PM. After hearing that from my recruiter, I set out to find out as much about the PM job that I could find. After finding out that the PM role was exactly the type of role that fit my experiences and my career aspirations, I chose to interview for that position.
Now I read somewhere online that "You can study as much for Microsoft interviews as possible, but it won't help you out". Whoever said this couldn't be farther from the truth. I studied as MUCH as I could. Here are a few references:
The books: "Oreillys The art of Program Management", "How to move Mount Fuji", "Headfirst Design Patterns", "Headfirst Object Analysis and Object Oriented Design", "Headfirst Software Development"
There are also tons of websites online that have great advice. Check out Microsoft jobs blogs for some posts from actual PM's that detail the job description and role characteristics. It really impresses interviewers when you can talk about the role and why you fit it perfectly!
The 2nd round of interviews went really well. I started off at 10:00 am, and got back to the hotel around 5:30pm. Prepare for a long day! But also prepare for an exciting day! The interviewers were all friendly and genuinely interested in the work I'd done. Also, I couldn't have asked for a more energetic recruiter. I ended up having 4 interviews (Which I hear is usually a good sign). They were nice enough to get back with me about the results within two days! Very prompt! Overall it was a great experience, and I gladly accepted the offer! :)
