I applied through a recruiter. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft
Interview
My interview began at 9am at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge, MA. I had three interviews scheduled before the lunch break and three interviews after.
All the interviews were standard - straightforward whiteboard coding or brainteasers. Many of my interviews ran over time (one ran 45 mins over). I ended up not having time for lunch at all - my previous interview had run over and only half an hour of time had been scheduled, so I had 15 mins to purchase lunch in the lobby and run back upstairs to make the next interview. I would advise other candidates to bring their own lunches - the cafe was extremely crowded and it took me the entire 15 mins to get food and pay.
I didn't have a complete schedule for the day, so I was unable to give the name of my next interviewer to the receptionist and ended up waiting in the lobby until my interviewer eventually came out to investigate.
Since my interviews had run over time, my day was extended by an hour and I did the final coding interview after my meeting with the hiring manager (which was supposed to be the end of the day).
I would encourage other candidates to brush up on their basic coding skills (string manipulation etc.) and brainteasers - the interviews were not design heavy. I would also encourage candidates to get a copy of their schedules in advance in case things go awry as security is very tight in the building. If I were to interview again, I would also bring snacks just in case.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
I was asked some brainteasers taken nearly word-for-word from "How Would You Move Mount Fuji?" which I found surprising.
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.