I applied through university. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (Bellevue, WA) in Mar 2012
Interview
I first got an interview by handing in my resume at a career fair. I chatted with the guy a bit, but he wasn't the chief recruiter so I didn't expect much. However, 2 weeks later I got a notice that I would have an on campus interview. The interviewer seemed kind of awkward and I didn't get the programming question right, but to my surprise I got an email a week later saying I would be flying out to Redmond to interview. Although the email said I would have flexibility in scheduling, when I was contacted 5 days later, it was with a "you're flying out this Thursday" (they notified me of this Monday). Couldn't get it rescheduled, but hey, it's Microsoft. I flew out for their 2 day interviewing event for the Online Services Division, during which they comp you plane tickets, hotel for 2 nights, money for cabs, and stipends for meals. They take you out in a limo bus on the night before interviews to "meet recruiters", but overall that was pretty useless and you basically just start stressing out with all your fellow interviewees. The next day you have 3-5 45 minute interviews (each is 1:1). They're pretty difficult, but the nice thing is they give you your results (offer or no offer) right after you finish. Overall it's a stressful process, one which is unnecessarily drawn out. But the interviewers on site were overall pleasant people. The whole process just feels a little bit like an episode of American Idol.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe a data structure for which getValue(int index), setValue(int index, int value), and setAllValues(int value) are all O(1).
It started with a 90-minute online assessment, followed by a technical phone screen with one engineer. The OA covered two medium-to-hard algorithm problems. For coding practice, I mainly rely on "LeetCode" to cover different topics. For company-specific interview preparation, I use "Hack2Hire", "LeetCode Discuss", and "1Point3Acres" to find any recent original questions. All of them are helpful platforms. The phone screen included one coding problem and some discussion around edge cases and time complexity.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Given a list of meeting time intervals, determine if a person could attend all meetings.
I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Microsoft in Dec 2024
Interview
I was invited to a technical interview with Microsoft. The interviewer started with a general question: “What happens when you type google.com into your browser?” They asked a few follow-up questions related to that.
After that, they gave me a LeetCode algorithmic question, which was at a hard level. The problem was “Integer to English Words.”
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
1. What happens when you type google.com into your browser?
2. “Integer to English Words” – LeetCode algorithmic question
Three tech interviews + one hiring manager VO, most of questions are medium to hard leetcode questions. Ask some questions about techniques you written on the resume. But I think they care more about the match of the research and the job.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about the recommendation System you made for the work.
