I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Microsoft
Interview
one round of school interview through recruiter, one phone interview general questions about background, one on-site interview: it included back to back interviews, 1-1, with different group members, each one about one hour. they responded in 1 day. very positive experience with challenging questions, even if you do not get the offer.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
there are so many challenging questions that you have never heard of. the goal is to check your problem solving skills
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft in Jul 2014
Interview
I was contacted by a recruiter towards the end of their summer internship period. I was recommended for a full time position by a friend in that program. Describing my skills as broad and focused on logistics and teambuilding, I was told that I would be given a screening interview over the phone. I was told to fill out a questionnaire beforehand. About two weeks later, I was on the phone with a fellow working as a software engineer. I figured something was wrong as soon as he started asking me the same basic information as I had previously filled out on my questionnaire. Soon, it was a full software interview, including opening an online document so that he could see me code. Seeing as I was not marketing myself as a software engineer, and specifically had an interest in working with a hardware group, the questions caught me off guard and I was completely unprepared. The questions were all pretty straightforward coding questions that I could've gotten with my typical coding warm up.
I applied through college or university. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Microsoft
Interview
Was greeted by a flustered looking man. I asked what he did at Microsoft and he started talking for a good ten minutes about how he was a software engineer in video. Interviewer made poor eye contact, and was not friendly at all.