I'm a final year university student and I submitted my resume for Software Engineer I. I had an an on-campus interview in October 2018, followed by on-site interview in January 2018 at Redmond.
I interviewed with 4 people for 45 minutes each and the first three interviews were technical and behavioral questions. The last one was an as necessary interview where the manager tried to convince me to join Microsoft.
Interview questions were average difficulty for 4th year computing science major, but it's important to think through them and ask questions before writing the code. Behavioral questions were standard such as describing strengths and weaknesses, conflict with colleague, etc.
They put me in a nice hotel with a good rental car. Flight, meals, and parking was all paid for or reimbursed.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Convert a string to a number. For example, convert "10.53" to a float with value of 10.53.
I applied online. I interviewed at Microsoft (Melbourne)
Interview
After submitting an online application, I received a HackerRank assessment after passing the resume screening stage, then I was rejected after completing the assessment and did not proceed to further interview rounds.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The assessment consisted of two LeetCode-medium-level coding questions to be completed within 75 minutes.
45 mins technical interview with a member of their San fran team. Very relaxed and informal but questions were focused and lots of follow ups. Easy to schedule as was over video conferencing platform
Straightforward technical loop overall, with strong interviewers at every stage. I genuinely enjoyed the in-depth conversations around technical challenges and algorithmic problem-solving — the entire process felt well-structured and genuinely engaging.