I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (Dublin, Dublin) in Jul 2024
Interview
I was contacted by the Microsoft recruiter on LinkedIn. The process consisted of an online coding assessment(Codility) and then a virtual on-site round that consisted of three different type of interviews. Those were:
1. Coding round
2. LLD round
3. System Design round
All of the interviewers in each round started with a few technical and behavioural questions and then jumped to the main part of the interview round.
One of the things that I didn't like I about the interview process was that I was not consulted at all for my availability and convenience. I was informed that my interviews have been scheduled for this day and this time. Microsoft should think about the convenience of candidates as well.
Interview questions [6]
Question 1
Out of all the programming languages you have worked with, what criteria would you have to choose the language for your new project.
Implement a system to facilitate the auto-complete/recommendations in a cloud shell. For example, `cd /home/work/.....`. The requirements and expectations weren't very clear in this question for me. It was presented as an algorithmic problem, but expected to be solved as a design problem.
I applied online. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Microsoft (Sydney) in Mar 2024
Interview
I applied in Microsoft Australia. The recuriter reached out to me with technical screen phone call and start the process, she mentioned there would be five rounds of technical interviews, but actually it was four. Each round included around 15 minues mixed with general technical questions and behavioural questions. 30 mins of coding, which are generally medium to hard level of leetcode questions, and afterwards by extending the coding questions to system design questions and that could last another 15 mins. With some interesting topics, the interviewers were pretty smart as well, could spend more than one hour to discussion solutions/questions with interviewees, and those discussions were pretty enjoyable!
As the interviers are all around the world, interviews were conducted in early AEST time or late AEST time, I denied the ones in mid-night. In general it's a very enjoyable process.
Drawback is, the interview process took VERY long, it took me more than 9 weeks, and background check for another four weeks. However, I did enjoy some time off between jobs.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
I feel like it's no point to share the actual questions and be prepared for Leetcode type of questions, medium to hard level. Thinking process is more important than make sure the code is bug free, however, it's better to prepare test cases and get the code working.
Mine question types were: intervals, arrays, map and multi-thread handling. Hope those helps.
I applied online. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Microsoft (Hyderâbâd) in Apr 2024
Interview
Process takes place in a single day with all major rounds, also the HR communication is not what you would expect of a big tech company. First you will receive invite for 2 rounds then if the feedback is positive then they will move forward with other rounds. I found the recuiter experience can be improved, by providing constant feedback, instead of just ghosting the candidates with no feedback.