The Microsoft Coding Interview

What are people saying about Microsoft’s Interview

PROS

Good work-life balance, decent benefits, amazing location, competitive pay.
Great benefits. Smart people to work with. Lots of passion to make the company better. Joining the company to work on a passion project can be an incredible experience.
Projects that are generally interesting and high impact with teams of really amiable people. Pay is fair and work/life balance is good

CONS

Depending on the team you’re working on, work-life balance can be a challenge. Growth can be stagnant if you are not in the right team.
Management is unwilling to fully commit to new projects, often leading to under-funded, poorly executed programs.
Corporate structure, sometimes slow to move or change direction, promotion is not necessarily about merit, job is often all-consuming

What Microsoft employees say about interviewing

“Help us get to know you by explaining how your prior experience and successes have prepared you for the role you’re pursuing at Microsoft. Review the job description and do a bit of research on the product, team, and our company. Come with a few examples in mind that demonstrate your strengths, any questions you have about the opportunity, and a healthy dose of curiosity.“

“Be prepared to demonstrate how you meet the requirements of the job description by sharing specific examples from your past, or ideas about how you would accomplish a specific task.”

“We're interested in more than just your answers. We want to know how your mind works, how you come up with solutions, and whether you can clearly explain your thinking process. Be prepared to verbalize how you came up with the answer or solution to a technical issue, design question, or problem-solving puzzle.”

“The most valuable candidate will think outside the box and have a vision beyond the role they’re applying for. This vision extends to where they want to grow within Microsoft.”

What to Expect from an Onsite Interview with Microsoft | Ask a Dev

What are people saying about Microsoft’s interview

“5 algorithmic questions got asked over and over different data structures and algorithm questions. It was difficult compared to modern hiring practices. Totally different once I joined the team. Worse thing is that the lunch interview is still an interview so watch out.”

“The full interview process was comprised of 4 one hour interviews with various Program Managers and Software Engineers. We did white board coding and talked a lot about my past work. ”

“There were 4 interviews, and they were all taken by manager or Director level people. They were all very kind, and all of them mentioned that they wished they had more time. The questions were not too hard, but they were definitely not easy too. Again, they were all medium level questions (one hard level question ) on leetcode.com. You get a lot of points for asking good questions, making correct use of the hints they give you, and figuring out the bugs in your code.”

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