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Microsoft interview experience Real time questions & tips from candidates to crack your interview

Software Developer

Microsoft
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5 rounds | 14 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Preparation
Duration: 6 months
Topics: DSA, DBMS, OOPS, OS, TOC and to some extent CN
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : I would suggest practicing as many questions on data structures and algorithms as you can because it is the question practice that would help you in building your concepts strong. I practiced a lot of questions on InterviewBit and completed all modules of data structures and algorithms because there you can find the recent interview questions that you should know. 
Tip 2 : If you have time for your interviews, I would recommend going through Leetcode as it has a good variety of questions sorted on topic wise difficulty level where you can try to solve at least 20-30 questions for each data structure and algorithm. Moreover, you should regularly participate in the weekly contests happening there so that you could know about your weak areas to improve.
Tip 3 : Along with coding you should be clear about some basic concepts of Operating systems and Databases that would help in your interviews. One more thing is that do some good research about the company's goal and vision and be prepared to ask some company-related queries that show your interest in the company.

Application process
Where: Campus
Eligibility: 6.0 CGPA
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1 : Your Resume should consist of mainly skills, projects, and achievements. Projects would play a crucial part in your interview and you should have at least one most relevant and good project that shows how strong your concepts are in development. 
Tip 2 : The most important tip is that never lie on your resume and like If you have worked upon some technology for the project part only and don't know the proper depth you could write basics only in your resume.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Easy
Online Coding Test
Duration75 minutes
Interview date29 Mar 2020
Coding problem3

This was the coding round which consisted of three coding questions and the time limit was of 75 minutes. The platform used was Co-Cubes. 3 questions were asked of 2, 3 and 5 marks respectively with varying difficulty.

1. Nearest Multiple of 10

Easy
15m average time
85% success
0/40
Asked in companies
Paytm (One97 Communications Limited)MicrosoftGreenClouds

You have been given an integer 'N'. Find the nearest multiple of 10 to the given integer 'N'.

Note:
If there are multiple answers, find the smallest one. For example, if N = 35, both 30 and 40 are nearest to N, since 30 is smaller, the expected answer will be 30.
Problem approach

This was a very basic question that involved some rounding up mathematics and I solved this question within 10 minutes using some school maths and logic.

Try solving now

2. Day of the Week

Easy
10m average time
90% success
0/40
Asked in companies
MicrosoftPaytm (One97 Communications Limited)Adobe

Write a function that calculates the corresponding day of the week for any particular date in the past or future.

For example, for the date 28th August 2020 happens to be Friday. Hence the expected output will be Friday.

Problem approach

This question was already done by me earlier. So, just thought of already built logic and wrote the code. Initially, few test cases were not passed then I made some changes, and all test cases passed.

Try solving now

3. Delete N nodes after M nodes of a linked list

Moderate
30m average time
65% success
0/80
Asked in companies
OlaAmazonMyntra

You have given a singly linked list and two integers 'N' and 'M'. Delete 'N' nodes after every 'M' node, or we can say more clearly that traverse the linked list such that you retain 'M' nodes then delete next 'N' nodes, continue the same till the end of the linked list.

Follow Up:
Try to solve this problem in O(N) time complexity and O(1) space complexity.
Problem approach

This was a standard linked list question and I solved it using linked list traversal by changing the pointers and deleting them according to the given condition.

Try solving now
02
Round
Easy
Coding Test - Pen and paper
Duration30 minutes
Interview date29 Mar 2020
Coding problem2

This was a written round and we were expected to write fully functional code, without any bugs and errors. Library functions used if any, had to be explained and if possible, code for that too (not that rigorous). Pseudocode and algorithms were also allowed. All the assumptions made had to be explained as well.

1. Look-And-Say Sequence

Easy
15m average time
85% success
0/40
Asked in companies
BarclaysMicrosoftMakeMyTrip

The Look-And-Say sequence is a sequence of positive integers. The sequence is as follows:

1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, 312211, 13112221,...

This sequence is constructed in the following way:

The first number is 1.

This is read as “One 1”. 
Hence, the second number will be 11.

The second number is read as “Two 1s”. 
Hence, the third number will be 21.

The third number is read as “One 2, One 1”. 
Hence, the fourth number will be 1211. And so on.

The fourth term is read as “One 1, One 2, Two 1s”.

Hence, the fifth term will be 111221. And so on.

Given an integer N, find the Nth term of the sequence.

Problem approach

 I simply checked the sequence and understood the pattern and got it within 10 minutes. I simply use a brute force approach and kind of hashing to count occurrence and explained this properly on paper.

Try solving now

2. Rearrange Array Numbers to form Largest Possible Number

Moderate
35m average time
65% success
0/80
Asked in companies
AmazonAccentureMyntra

You are given an array(ARR) of length 'N', consisting of non-negative integers. Using only these given numbers, rearrange the numbers in such a way that the resultant number thus formed is the largest possible. You cannot change the order of digits of a number.

For Example:
Given array numbers 12, 5, 34, the largest number you can form with them is 53412. There are other possible arrangements like 51234 or 34125, but they are both less than 53412.

arr

Note:
As the final number formed after concatenation can be very large, print it as a string.
Problem approach

I used sorting with the self-made comparator and wrote a properly commented code.

Try solving now
03
Round
Easy
Face to Face
Duration50 minutes
Interview date29 Mar 2020
Coding problem2

The interviewer was very friendly and started asking me questions by making me comfortable.

1. Simplify the Directory

Moderate
22m average time
70% success
0/80
Asked in companies
FacebookVisaGoldman Sachs

You are given a path to a file/directory in Unix-style of length N, In a Unix-style file system, a dot(.) refers to the current directory. A double dot(..) refers to the previous directory in reference to the current directory. If there are multiple slashes between two directories you should consider it as a single slash.

Now, for a given directory path as a string, you are required to simplify the same and tell the final destination in the directory structure or the path.

The simplified path should always begin with a slash(/) and there must be a single slash between two directory names. There should not be a trailing slash.

Problem approach

I gave him a stack-based approach and he was satisfied with that approach.

Try solving now

2. Evaluate the Polynomial

Easy
20m average time
80% success
0/40
Asked in companies
IBMAckoMicrosoft

You are given two arrays of coefficients and degrees of a polynomial expression. You need to simplify the polynomial in general form by evaluating and simplifying the expression.

For Example:
If the given polynomial equation is “5x ^ 3 + 2x ^ 3 + 6x ^ 4 + 2”. There are two terms of exponent or degree 3 and they are 5x ^ 3 and 2x ^ 3. Both these terms will get added and form 7x ^ 3, so the given polynomial will be simplified as 7x ^ 3 + 6x ^ 4 + 2. Now by arranging the expression in the decreasing order of the degrees, we will have 6x ^ 4 + 7x ^ 3 + 2 and hence the result.
Problem approach

I gave him 3 approaches, one with trees, one with a max heap, and finally, one with Linked lists, considering all the corner cases and continuously optimizing the code with respect to time and space complexity. He seemed happy with my approach.

Try solving now
04
Round
Easy
Face to Face
Duration40 minutes
Interview date30 Mar 2020
Coding problem4

This round was focused on resume and projects

1. Tell me about all your projects.

Problem approach

Gave him a brief introduction to my projects with tech stack information.

2. What is the structure of your projects?

Problem approach

 Drawn a neat diagram for that and explained to him the structure of the project.

3. Tell me about your summer intern project.

Problem approach

I gave him all descriptions of the work and challenges that I faced during the internship.

4. What is the linear regression?

Problem approach

Explained to him very well with a real-life example of a dataset of flats and houses.

05
Round
Easy
HR Round
Duration30 minutes
Interview date30 Mar 2020
Coding problem3

This round was basically a mix of HR and creative design round. The interviewer wanted to check whether the candidate can think out-of-the-box with regard to any given problem and come up with unique, optimized solutions.

1. What is DBMS and explain ACID?

Problem approach

I gave him the definition of DBMS which I remembered at that time and explained him ACID properties through the example of ATM transactions.

2. Explain 2 tier and 3 tier architecture of DBMS.

Problem approach

Drawn diagram of both architecture and explained the working of each tier in both architectures.

3. What is schema independence in DBMS?

Problem approach

Explained this with context to 3 tier architecture of DBMS.

Here's your problem of the day

Solving this problem will increase your chance to get selected in this company

Skill covered: Programming

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20 Dec 2020

What's the CTC?

 

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