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

SDE - 1

Microsoft
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4 rounds | 5 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Preparation
Duration: 6 months
Topics: Data Structures, Algorithms, Low Level Design (OOPS), Live Projects, High Level Design (Basic).
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : Strong hold in DS and Algorithms
Tip 2 : Working knowledge of OOPS concept.
Tip 3 : Working projects worked on with live links should be mentioned in resume.

Application process
Where: Referral
Eligibility: 7+ CGPA
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1 : Ignore blocks like hobbies and try to add more in experience and projects and achievements sections.
Tip 2 : Make resume using overleaf.com with proper formats, keep it 1 pager.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date1 Oct 2022
Coding problem1

1. Minimum Cost to Reach End

Moderate
25m average time
65% success
0/80
Asked in companies
Deutsche BankVisaArcesium

You are given an array “ARR” of 'N' integers and an integer 'K'. You can move from any index 'i' to index 'j' if j ≤ i + K. The cost of moving from one index 'i' to the other index 'j' is abs(ARR[j] – ARR[i]). Your task is to find the minimum cost to reach the end of the array from the beginning of the array when a maximum jump of 'K' is allowed.

For example:
If the given array is [10, 3, 40, 5, 25] and K is 2 then the minimum cost would be 29. 
Since K = 2, the optimal way to reach the end of the array with minimum cost is to take a jump to 1st index from 0th index with the cost of abs(3 - 10)  i.e 7 and then we take a jump of 2 from 1st index to the 3rd index with the cost of abs(5 - 3). i.e 2. Then we take a jump of 1 from 3rd index to the last index with the cost of abs(25 - 5) .ie 20. 
Therefore the minimum cost to reach the end of the array is (7 + 2 + 20) i.e 29.
Problem approach

I solved using greedy algorithm at each position checked the cost of visiting current index or hoping to other + fixed cost which ever is least.

Try solving now
02
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date1 Oct 2022
Coding problem1

1. System Design Question

TO design Data structure to carry two stack operations at once. (Input will be stack1 , push, 4) or (stack2, pop) or(stack1, showVaueOnTop())..

Problem approach

Tip 1 : Tried working on array solution to choose start as 1 stack and end as starting of other.
Tip 2 : Finally made a solution using linked list growing in both directions.
 

03
Round
Hard
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date1 Oct 2022
Coding problem2

1. Basic DSA

Design data structure to insert, delete, getRandom in O(1) time.

Problem approach

Created a vector, and map and worked.

2. Travelling Salesman Problem

Hard
50m average time
50% success
0/120
Asked in companies
MicrosoftOperaMorgan Stanley

Given a list of cities numbered from 0 to N-1 and a matrix 'DISTANCE' consisting of 'N' rows and 'N' columns denoting the distances between each pair of cities, what is the shortest possible route that visits each city exactly once and returns to the starting city?

Problem approach

Used graph concept.

Try solving now
04
Round
Easy
HR Round
Duration45 minutes
Interview date1 Oct 2022
Coding problem1

General Managerial round with 1 basic question on design.

1. System Design Question

Design basic API to catch user mobile usage patterns.


 

Problem approach

Tip 1 : Told him arguments, database that will be used.
Tip 2 : Usage of API.
 

Here's your problem of the day

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

Skill covered: Programming

How do you remove whitespace from the start of a string?

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