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Microsoft Interview Experiences
3935 interview stories from candidates at 857 companies: how each round went, what was asked and how it ended. Every company page links to practice questions in the same style.
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55 results
- A Screen and Four Hiring-Event RoundsMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Senior+ · Onsite · Sep 2026
The report describes a senior software engineering interview for Microsoft’s Intelligent Conversation and Communications Cloud organization. A technical screen in late August preceded a four-round hiring event in mid-September. The screen combined a three-number sum problem with a question about resolving disagreement. The first event round examined a thread-safe executor that preserves task orde…
- Four Rounds in One Day, Not SelectedMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Onsite · Sep 2026Rejected
The JD said the role is in Windows + Devices, with two teams, WSSI and AI Trust. The interviewer said the role mainly works on privacy and compatibility. There were 5 interviews in total: The first one was a CV + technical questions round, but I think they only asked about my resume and BQ. Then four rounds, all scheduled on the same day. Round 1: BQ + Coding Why Microsoft and why this role The t…
- SDE-2 Loop with an AI-Assisted Design Round and a Linux cp Deep DiveMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Onsite · Sep 2026
Round 1 The first problem was a variant of Longest Repeating Character Replacement. We discussed both the brute-force and the optimal solution in the interview, and I implemented it. The second problem was a Medium-difficulty tree traversal question. We also discussed some basic DSA concepts. Round 2 Design a notification system for Windows that lets different applications generate and display no…
- 25 Minutes to Hand-Code a Concurrent Task ExecutorMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Senior+ · Technical Screen · Aug 2026
I applied pretty randomly online, and HR reached out to schedule an interview for yesterday afternoon. I went in with a "just watching the show" mindset, and honestly the whole experience was terrible — basically a setup for failure. If I'd actually been seriously job hunting, this would have driven me insane. First, it was a one-hour technical phone screen, and half an hour of that went into goi…
- A 90-Minute OA and Only Time for Brute ForceMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Online Assessment · Aug 2026
The latest OA: 90 minutes, two questions, with AI hints for the second question. I only managed to write a brute-force solution for the second one. It probably needed DP, but I ran out of time. 2571 You are given an integer array requiredSum of length n. Build an array result of length n that satisfies all of these conditions: result is non-decreasing: result[i] ≤ result[i + 1] for every valid i.…
- Four Back-to-Back Rounds, and I Was Late to the First OneMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Onsite · Aug 2026
Before the interview they gave me two time windows to choose from, morning or afternoon. After I picked one, it was four rounds back to back, about an hour each. Part 1: The process and the questions Round 1 | BQ + quick-fire technical concepts + algorithm The interviewer was a guy based in Pittsburgh. BQ: Have you ever been blocked for a long time? How did you solve the problem and keep moving f…
- HackerRank OA with Two Coding Problems, Then VOMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Online Assessment · Aug 2026
Microsoft SWE II OA, HackerRank, two coding problems. I passed and moved on to the VO. [Questions] Q1: Given a string, look at the substrings whose length is in [minLength, maxLength] and whose number of distinct characters is
- Language Expectations and Stateful NamingMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Senior+ · Onsite · Aug 2026Rejected
The author describes a Microsoft senior-engineering phone screen followed by three virtual-onsite rounds. The screen required a production-quality integer parser supporting arbitrary bases. The applicant advanced despite overlooking negative numbers. Subsequent sessions covered reconstructing digits from word representations, converting hexadecimal input to an IPv4 address, discussing a dictionar…
- One-Day Israel Loop with Bike-Sharing Design and Project Deep-DiveMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Senior+ · Onsite · Aug 2026
This is my account of getting through the senior fullstack loop at Microsoft's Israel office, for a team working on AI and cyber security. I had ten years behind me, split between hands-on fullstack work and leading a team. The opening was a Senior Software Engineer (Fullstack) position in Herzliya, on a team that straddles AI and security. Because the level was senior or lead, I figured that cod…
- Product Pages, Trackable Links, and Anonymous UsersMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Onsite · Aug 2026
Design a platform that can provide companies with the ability to create and showcase their product details through dedicated pages while also offering a shareable link feature for dissemination across various social media platforms like Facebook and more. Key Objectives: Companies can create/update product detailed page with images and description. The system can have a robust shareable link mech…
- Two Renamed LeetCode Problems in a 75-Minute OAMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Online Assessment · Aug 2026
Both questions were renamed versions of existing LeetCode problems. Neither was particularly difficult overall; if you're quick with implementation and edge cases, you can finish within 30 minutes: Q1: Count Binary Substrings LeetCode problem: LC 696, Count Binary Substrings (Easy). Topics: Two pointers / counting adjacent runs, or run-length encoding. Approach: Count the lengths of consecutive r…
- Virtual Onsite, Then the Req Was CancelledMicrosoft · Applied Scientist · Senior+ · Onsite · Aug 2026No response
This was a team under Microsoft MAI working on a web data platform, not the superintelligence team. The role was Principal Applied Scientist. The phone screen was mostly ML fundamentals and my background. They focused on data-related questions, and there were a few design questions too. Virtual onsite: What HR listed for each round did not quite match the actual interviews. Basically every round…
- Coding, Technical and Culture Rounds After a Long Search, One OfferMicrosoft · Site Reliability Engineer · Senior+ · Onsite · Jul 2026Offer
I got laid off from Amazon as a new grad SDE 1 a few years back, and the two jobs I took afterward gave me neither the growth nor the total comp I wanted. My current job is very relaxed and a solid long-term place for my peace of mind. So I only went after FANG+ roles that looked interesting to me and would roughly double my TC. I've been interviewing for 30 months now, although I was only out of…
- Microsoft Applied Scientist interview with a last-minute virtual cancellation and long HR waitMicrosoft · Applied Scientist · Jul 2026
The interview itself seemed technically normal at first, but the communication around it became the hardest part. I was called for a virtual interview, then received an email minutes before it was due to start saying it was canceled. They said they would reschedule, but I never received a new time. Later, I did manage to complete an interview, but it still did not feel like there was closure. HR…
- Microsoft Data Scientist interview: modeling and experiment designMicrosoft · Data Scientist · Technical Screen · Jul 2026Offer
The loop was intense and technically demanding, with work that felt closer to real modeling than trivia. After a recruiter-style step, I discussed an ML project and the trade-offs in evaluating it. We focused on classification with asymmetric costs, and I explained SHAP in the context of what I'd built. I was surprised to get a precision-and-recall question very close to one I'd practiced. Later…
- Microsoft Data Scientist interview: timed HackerRank assessmentMicrosoft · Data Scientist · Online Assessment · Jul 2026
Most of my process was a timed online technical assessment. It had several HackerRank-style questions and a predefined window of around an hour to finish everything. There was little conversational interviewing beyond that. It felt like a fast evaluation of technical problem solving, with very little room to recover from a missed question. I did not receive an offer. The straightforward but tough…
- Microsoft Software Engineer Interview Experience: Binary search first, then graph problemsMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Online Assessment · Jul 2026
I had an online assessment first, followed by two live coding interviews. The experience was pretty middle-of-the-road for me: not relaxed, but not chaotic either. The first coding interview had a medium LeetCode-style binary-search problem, while the second shifted to graphs. I also discussed general software-development principles and problem-solving. The interviewers were professional and easy…
- Microsoft Software Engineer interview: correct solutions that still timed outMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Technical Screen · Jul 2026
My technical rounds were mostly classic DSA questions, but efficiency mattered most. I could tell they were judging more than whether my logic worked. My approach also had to be optimized enough to pass the last few tests. Time limits were part of the challenge, and if I wrote something too slow, the end of the test suite failed. The process stayed focused on performance. The stressful part was n…
- Microsoft Software Engineer interview: dynamic programming and scheduling algorithmsMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Technical Screen · Jul 2026
This was an on-campus process with two rounds on the same schedule. First I got a simple dynamic-programming question about counting ways to reach a target count. The second round shifted to scheduling algorithms: FCFS, SJF, and round-robin. They were not presented as trick questions. I felt reasonably comfortable with both the DP logic and the scheduler implementations. I did not get an offer. M…
- Microsoft Software Engineer interview: HackerRank queue with two stacksMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Online Assessment · Jul 2026
My Microsoft process began with a HackerRank online assessment. After that came three live coding rounds on HackerRank, each with some behavioral questions mixed in. The behavioral questions were direct: why Microsoft, a time I failed, and how I learn a new skill. For coding, I had problems such as building a queue with two stacks and filtering an array efficiently. They also asked about data str…
- Microsoft Software Engineer interview: nerves on an easy opening questionMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Technical Screen · Jul 2026
My experience began with an initial screening round that felt generally easy. I got nervous early and bottled up on the first easy question, which caught me off guard because the overall vibe did not match how tense I felt inside. The process stayed consistent with that: the first stage was meant to be approachable and did not seem designed to trick me. Still, I learned that an easy question can…
- Microsoft Software Engineer interview: quick take-home follow-up and manager interviewsMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Jul 2026
I heard back quickly after applying and again after the take-home step. Then I went straight into three interviews, all with managers. The overall vibe was professional and easy to talk to. The conversations felt thoughtful instead of stressful. It seemed they wanted to understand my work and how I communicated, and I left each session feeling that I had covered the points they were listening for…
- Microsoft Software Engineer interview: respectful manager and technical roundsMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Technical Screen · Jul 2026
I had two Microsoft interviews: one with the hiring manager and one technical interview. Both were respectful and kind, which made the process less stressful than the usual hiring loop. The recruiter was responsive, so the wait did not drag on. The manager conversation was professional and supportive, and the technical interview had the same tone. It felt like a discussion rather than a harsh cro…
- Microsoft Software Engineer interview: story-based medium-hard roundsMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Online Assessment · Jul 2026
After clearing the OA, I had three technical rounds. The questions were story-based and ranged from medium to hard. Not every interviewer required me to fully execute code; some were more interested in whether I could explain an approach clearly. The interviews were demanding because I had to stay precise about both the algorithm and my reasoning while the conversation moved quickly. I was trying…
- Microsoft Software Engineer interview: three 90-minute loop interviewsMicrosoft · Software Engineer · HR Screen · Jul 2026
An HR call set up a packed loop day with three interviews, each 90 minutes long. The first two were live coding rounds with LeetCode-medium problems and a strong emphasis on clean code. The third was a behavioral interview with the department manager. The 90-minute blocks made the day longer than a typical loop and required sustained focus across coding clarity and later communication. I did not…
- Microsoft Software Engineer long interview timeline experienceMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Jul 2026
The most surprising part of my Microsoft process was its length. It took at least two months from beginning to end: about one month of interviews, then another month waiting for the decision. There were multiple rounds assessing different skills. Interviewers gave hints, and I had to keep track of them and adjust my approach while time was running. I did not receive an offer. The month of uncerta…
- Software Engineer interview at MicrosoftMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Jul 2026
The technical screen was tightly focused on algorithms. I had two coding questions: one involved traversing an array to count ball collisions based on speed, and the other asked how to maximize a weighted sum by sorting an array strategically. They tested greedy thinking and careful logic. The problems were described as easy to medium, and I could follow how the scoring and sorting decisions conn…
- Software Engineer interview at Microsoft: respectful recruiter screenMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Jul 2026
The recruiter screen was prompt and professional. The recruiter explained the role, asked about my background, and clarified expectations, so the conversation did what an early fit check should do. I did not advance or receive an offer. The process felt clear and respectful, but the experience reminded me that an early screen can still be decisive even when the conversation goes well. Location: U…
- AI-Assisted ML Round, Rejected on Level CalibrationMicrosoft · Data Scientist · Senior+ · Onsite · Jun 2026Rejected
Background: about 4 years of YOE, full-stack DS at a startup. Timeline: Cold apply → recruiter reach out: 9 weeks Reach out → phone screen: 3 weeks Phone screen → onsite: 4 weeks (got the notice in the third week) Onsite → result: 5 weeks (I heard some people waited even longer) I'd long heard that Microsoft interviews move slowly, and now I've experienced it myself. Phone screen: resume walkthro…
- CoreAI Loop With an AI Coding Round, After 11 Loops in a YearMicrosoft · Software Engineer · Senior+ · Onsite · Jun 2026Offer
A bit of background first. I spent 6 years at a big fintech, and most of that time went into building an internal experimentation platform. I want to be honest about the niche angle, because I think people assume the opposite of what happened. I never planned to specialize. I sent applications everywhere, senior backend roles, anything that looked decent. Only when I reviewed my own funnel at the…
