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

SDE - 1

Microsoft
upvote
share-icon
4 rounds | 6 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

expand-icon
Journey
I was introduced to the field of computer science in class 11th. I found it interesting and decided to pursue my career in the same field. I was admitted to B.Tech CSE and learned various concepts like DSA and all. I was advised that DSA. is a must for getting placed, so I started practicing it on a daily basis. I practised rigorously from various platforms.
Application story
I came to know from an email that this company is visiting our campus for a placement opportunity. So, I decided to give it a try and I applied for it.
Why selected/rejected for the role?
I think my skills and problem-solving ability were up to the mark, hence they found me as a valuable candidate. Moreover, my communication skills were decent, so that was a cherry on top.
Preparation
Duration: 6 months
Topics: data structure and algorithm, operating system, dbms, networks, oops, back tracking
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : Prepare for common interview questions
Tip 2 : Practice, practice, practice.
It's one thing to come prepared with a mental answer to a question like, "Why should we hire you?" It's another challenge entirely to say it out loud in a confident and convincing way. The first time you try it, you'll sound garbled and confused, no matter how clear your thoughts are in your own mind! Do it another 10 times, and you'll sound a lot smoother and more articulate.
But you shouldn't do your practicing when you're "on stage" with a recruiter; rehearse before you go to the interview. The best way to rehearse? Get two friends and practice interviewing each other in a "round robin": one person acts as the observer and the "interviewee" gets feedback from both the observer and the "interviewer." Go for four or five rounds, switching roles as you go. Another idea (but definitely second-best) is to tape record your answer and then play it back to see where you need to improve. Whatever you do, make sure your practice consists of speaking aloud. Rehearsing your answer in your mind won't cut it.
 

Application process
Where: Campus
Eligibility: No criteria
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1 : Should have different projects
Tip 2 : Internships in good companies

Interview rounds

01
Round
Medium
Online Coding Interview
Duration90 minutes
Interview date14 Oct 2020
Coding problem1

it was around 9 :30 am interviewer was friendly

1. Find all triplets with zero sum

Moderate
30m average time
50% success
0/80
Asked in companies
MicrosoftFacebookDunzo

You are given an array Arr consisting of n integers, you need to find all the distinct triplets present in the array which adds up to zero.

An array is said to have a triplet {arr[i], arr[j], arr[k]} with 0 sum if there exists three indices i, j and k such that i!=j, j!=k and i!=k and arr[i] + arr[j] + arr[k] = 0.

Note :
1. You can return the list of values in any order. For example, if a valid triplet is {1, 2, -3}, then (2, -3, 1), (-3, 2, 1) etc is also valid triplet. Also, the ordering of different triplets can be random i.e if there are more than one valid triplets, you can return them in any order.
2. The elements in the array need not be distinct.
3. If no such triplet is present in the array, then return an empty list, and the output printed for such a test case will be "-1".
Try solving now
02
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration60 Minutes
Interview date4 Nov 2020
Coding problem2

morning 11 am 
interviewer was friendly

1. Generate all binary strings from pattern

Moderate
10m average time
90% success
0/80
Asked in companies
AmazonMicrosoftCoinbase

You're given a string 'STR' containing ‘0’, ‘1’ and ‘?’ special characters. Your task is to generate all the strings that are possible by replacing the special character ‘?’, with either of the characters ‘0’ or ‘1’.

Try solving now

2. Sum root to leaf

Easy
10m average time
90% success
0/40
Asked in companies
Morgan StanleyCoinbaseAmazon

You are given an arbitrary binary tree consisting of N nodes where each node is associated with a certain integer value from 1 to 9. Consider each root to leaf path as a number.

For example:

       1
      /  \
     2    3

The root to leaf path 1->2 represents the number 12.
The root to leaf path 1->3 represents the number 13.

Your task is to find the total sum of all the possible root to leaf paths.

In the above example,

The total sum of all the possible root to leaf paths is 12+13 = 25
Note:
The output may be very large, return the answer after taking modulus with (10^9+7).
Try solving now
03
Round
Hard
Video Call
Duration45 Minutes
Interview date13 Nov 2020
Coding problem1

it was around 3
good recieving of interviewer

1. The Celebrity Problem

Moderate
30m average time
60% success
0/80
Asked in companies
OlaVisaApple

There are ‘N’ people at a party. Each person has been assigned a unique id between 0 to 'N' - 1(both inclusive). A celebrity is a person who is known to everyone but does not know anyone at the party.

Given a helper function ‘knows(A, B)’, It will returns "true" if the person having id ‘A’ know the person having id ‘B’ in the party, "false" otherwise. Your task is to find out the celebrity at the party. Print the id of the celebrity, if there is no celebrity at the party then print -1.

Note:
1. The helper function ‘knows’ is already implemented for you.
2. ‘knows(A, B)’ returns "false", if A doesn't know B.
3. You should not implement helper function ‘knows’, or speculate about its implementation.
4. You should minimize the number of calls to function ‘knows(A, B)’.
5. There are at least 2 people at the party.
6. At most one celebrity will exist.
Try solving now
04
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration50 Minutes
Interview date2 Jan 2021
Coding problem2

it was arround 2 afternoon

1. Basic OS Questions

What are the different operating systems? (Learn)
Distributed operating systems. (Learn)
Timesharing operating systems. (Learn)

 

2. Basic SQL Questions

Write an SQL query to fetch records that are present in one table but not in another table.

 

Here's your problem of the day

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

Skill covered: Programming

What is recursion?

Choose another skill to practice
Similar interview experiences
company logo
SDE - 1
5 rounds | 15 problems
Interviewed by Microsoft
3921 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
SDE - 1
5 rounds | 7 problems
Interviewed by Microsoft
2604 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
SDE - 1
1 rounds | 2 problems
Interviewed by Microsoft
7356 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
SDE - 1
4 rounds | 7 problems
Interviewed by Microsoft
1226 views
0 comments
0 upvotes
Companies with similar interview experiences
company logo
SDE - 1
5 rounds | 12 problems
Interviewed by Amazon
114579 views
24 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
SDE - 1
3 rounds | 7 problems
Interviewed by Amazon
34961 views
7 comments
0 upvotes
company logo
SDE - 1
3 rounds | 11 problems
Interviewed by Amazon
21740 views
4 comments
0 upvotes