If you are looking to make the transition into a senior software engineering position with Microsoft, you may be wondering what types of questions you can expect in the interview process. Microsoft is a leading technology company and is known for its stringent hiring process, so preparing for their senior software engineer interview questions is essential. To ensure you are as prepared as possible and make the best impression, it’s important to have a good understanding of the types of questions they typically ask. In this blog post, we will discuss some of the most common Microsoft senior software engineer interview questions. From technical knowledge to questions about your ability to communicate and collaborate, we will cover the questions that are most likely to come up during your interview and offer advice on how to answer them. Understanding the questions you will face will help you best prepare for your interview and increase your chances of success.
Microsoft interview for Senior Software Engineer (Experience, Tips, Strategy & Suggestions)
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Senior Software Developer Interview
I interviewed at Microsoft
Interview
Phone interview for 15 minutes then received an email for a technical interview. The process was four hours long and had a 10 minute break in betwen. The whole process was organized and straight to the point.
- Something about n + 1
Senior Software Engineer Interview
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (Barcelona) in Sep 2022
Interview
I applied for the job via their website. A week later they contacted me by sending to me a Codility link with an assessment that consisted of two problems to be solved within 70mins.They also encourage you to sign up in Leetcode for practicing before taking the test, etc.Although I looked at the test, I decided to not move forward since I found the process a kind of oldish for a Senior position (I would have preferred to have a small talk with the tech team before taking any assessment rather than taking part in a sort of algorithmic competition in advance).
- Codility assignment: (Overview without constraints)1. – Return an array whose elements’ sum is 0 for a number between 1 and 100. N = 4 Possible results, for example: [1, 0, -3, 2] [-2, 1, -4, 5] Others Why:1+0-3+2 = 0-2+1-4+5 = 02. – Given an array of N numbers, return the greatest number of elements that satisfy the property that each element in the array has the same difference. The difference between the elements should be equal. For instance:[4,7,1,5,3]Result:[7,1,5,3] = 4 elements. Why: [1,3,5,7] 3-1 = 25-3 = 27-5 = 2 (Notice the difference is 2).
Microsoft Software Engineer Interview Questionsby Interview Kickstart Team in
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When a business doesn’t require an introduction, that’s one of the best indicators of its success. Microsoft is one such company. Microsoft has been responsible for bringing the computer into every home and business, as well as serving as the industry leader in IT innovation for the past 40 years. And each Microsoft Software Engineer who made this possible is at the core of Microsoft. Â.
It follows that Microsoft places a high value on and high expectations for the software engineers it hires. Among the FAANG companies, Microsoft has one of the most stringent hiring procedures. Your analytical, problem-solving, execution, and behavioral skills will be evaluated by Microsoft Software Engineer interview questions.
We have trained over 6,000 software engineers, so we are aware of what it takes to succeed in even the most difficult technical interviews. Averaging a 49% pay raise, FAANG and Tier-1 tech companies have been making lucrative offers to Interview Kickstart graduates since 2014. The highest offer ever made to an IK alum was a mind-blowing $933,000!
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Everything you need to know about the hiring process for Microsoft Software Engineers will be covered in this article:
1 What interviews to expect
Now, lets drill down further into the different stages of your software development engineer interview process with Microsoft. Here are the steps:
Recruiters will first review your resume to determine whether your experience is relevant to the open position. Millions of applicants fail to advance past this stage, making it the stage of the process where competition is the greatest.
Therefore, be extra careful to customize your resume for the particular position you’re applying for.
Get advice from our team of ex-FAANG recruiters if you want professional opinion. They will discuss which accomplishments to emphasize (or ignore), how to improve your bullet points, and more.
The interview process then begins with a phone call from an HR recruiter to talk about your interests and determine which group or team would be the best for you. Additionally, your recruiter will use this conversation to determine whether you have any chance at all of landing the job. Be prepared to discuss your background and why Microsoft is a good fit for you.
You will proceed to the following stage of the process if things go smoothly with the recruiter. What occurs at this point depends on the team and position you are applying for.
However, if you’re an industry hire, you can typically anticipate a phone screen, an on-campus interview if you’re a recent graduate, or in some circumstances, an online test in place of an actual interview. Well review each format below.
Technical phone screens
This process is known as the “phone screen,” though it occasionally takes place via Skype video. Each interview will last 45 to 60 minutes. A peer or potential manager will interview you and ask you a variety of technical and behavioral questions.
You can anticipate standard data structure and algorithm questions during the technical portion of the interview, which you will need to answer in an online collaborative text editor. You’ll need to get used to not having features like syntax highlighting or autocomplete while preparing for interviews because the text editor won’t have those. Additionally, during your phone screen, it’s extremely unlikely that you will be questioned about system design.
Tell me about yourself, Why Microsoft, and What’s Your Favorite Microsoft Product? are typical behavioral interview questions. In our experience, Microsoft interviewers spend more time on behavioral questions than their counterparts at Facebook or Google. Thus, it is important to ensure that you are prepared for typical behavioral questions (more on that later).
On-campus interview
If you’re a student, you’ll typically have an in-person interview rather than a phone interview. A combination of behavioral and technical questions that you must answer on a whiteboard will be asked of you. You may also have more than one interview on campus in some circumstances.
Online coding assessment
Microsoft also sometimes uses online coding tests before passing a candidate through to the onsite interviews. The company uses a variety of tests, but the most common one is a three-question test which you need to solve in 60 to 90 minutes and is administered by Codility.
The questions are typical data structure and algorithm questions for which you need to submit a solution in an online editor. Leetcode maintains a helpful thread of the types of questions that have recently been asked in the test.
The next step, if you pass the first round, is to spend a full day at one of Microsoft’s offices and take part in four on-site interviews. These one-on-one interviews, which will last about 60 minutes, will be conducted with a variety of team members, including peers, the hiring manager, and occasionally a senior executive.
Question types
There will be coding questions in three to four of your interviews (i e. You’ll need to use a whiteboard to solve questions about data structures and algorithms. System design questions will be covered in the remaining one or two interviews. Youll be asked behavioral questions in all your interviews.
Every candidate must perform incredibly well on the coding and behavioral questions. If youre relatively junior (e. g. SDE II or lower) you might not be asked questions about system design. The standard will be lower than it is for mid-level or senior engineers (e.g. g. Senior SDE or above).
The “as appropriate”, AA or ASAPP interview
Your final interview will be with a senior Microsoft executive (e g. your hiring manager or possibly their boss). Because you will only be asked to complete this interview if your first three interviews go well, it is frequently referred to as the “as appropriate,” “AA,” or “ASAP” interview. You won’t be invited to an AA interview and won’t be given an offer if you don’t perform well in the first three.
AA interviewers have two roles. The first is to make sure that your evaluation is complete and free of blind spots. For example, if your first three interviewers determined that you meet the technical hiring standards but they are unsure about whether you fit in with the company’s culture, your AA interview will primarily consist of behavioral questions. If you performed well in prior interviews, the AA interviewer’s second responsibility is to “sell” the company to you. Microsoft wants to make sure you’ll accept the offer if they decide to make you one, so this is their strategy.
I recently attended an interview with the Core Services Engineering team at Microsoft in Hyderabad. The following are the queries that were posed throughout the various interview rounds:
The entire conversation in this round revolved around my current project, including its scalability and security concerns. Additionally, questions regarding design principles, such as the distinction between SQL and NoSQL, types of caching and when to use each one, were raised.
FAQ
Is Microsoft software engineering interview hard?
Practice with Microsoft ex-interviewers. Microsoft coding interviews are really challenging. The questions cover a wide range of topics and are challenging and specific to Microsoft. The good news is that careful planning can significantly alter outcomes.
What questions should I ask a senior software engineer?
- Tell me about your interests in current development trends.
- Do you enjoy contributing to open-source projects?
- What do you know about our firm’s technology services?
- How do you approach setting professional goals?
- How do your credentials contribute to your accomplishments as a senior developer?
What does a senior software engineer do at Microsoft?
Senior software engineers design, implement, test, roll out, and manage software services as technical leaders and problem solvers.
What level is senior software engineer at Microsoft?
Software Development Engineer (SDE) I (59/60), Software Development Engineer II (61/62) and Senior Software Engineer (63/64) are the nine levels of software engineers, each with a distinct job title.
