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

SWE-1

Microsoft

4 rounds | 7 Coding problems

Anonymous

Fresher | Jan 2024

Selected

Interview preparation journey

Journey

I come from a non-technical background in mining. In our curriculum, we had a course called CSO 101, where we were introduced to the fundamentals of the C language. Following this, I enrolled in a course offered by Coding Ninjas to delve deeper into Data Structures and Algorithms (course name - Basics of C++ and DSA), while also dedicating time to sharpen my competitive programming skills on platforms like Codeforces.

Application story

I applied through a referral, after which there was an online assessment followed by three rounds of interviews: two technical and one technical plus managerial.

Why selected/rejected for the role?

I have achieved a decent rating on coding platforms, which proved beneficial during the resume screening process. Additionally, I have thoroughly prepared in Computer Fundamentals such as Operating Systems, Object-Oriented Programming, and Database Management Systems (DBMS).

Preparation

Duration: 30 minutes

Topics: Data Structures, Algorithms, OOPS, Operating System, DBMS

Tip

Tip 1: Consistent practice is key to improving your coding skills.

Tip 2: Prepare your resume well by adding at least 2 projects and some work experience, such as an internship.

Application process

Where: Referral

Eligibility: No criteria

Resume tip

Tip 1: Prepare your resume well; they may ask you about anything you've written on it.

Tip 2: Include your ratings on coding platforms to showcase your skills.

Interview rounds

Round

Medium

Online Coding Interview

Duration60 minutes

Interview date10 Jan 2024

Coding problem2

Two questions of DSA (medium level)

1. Knapsack

Moderate

0/80

Asked in companies

A thief is robbing a store and can carry a maximum we...

Problem approach

Tip 1: Prepare DP topic in depth and practice more and more.

Try solving now

2. Graph + Map

Moderate

25m average time

65% success

0/80

Asked in companies

You have been given an undirected graph of ‘V’ vertices (labeled 0,1,..., V-1) and ‘E’ edges. Each edge connecting two nodes (‘X’,’Y’) will have a weight denoting the distance between node ‘X’ and node ‘Y’.<...

Try solving now

Round

Medium

Video Call

Duration58 minutes

Interview date24 May 2024

Coding problem1

It was around morning time .

Interviewer was a senior software engineer (working in microsoft for more than 5+ years)

1. Shortest path

Moderate

30m average time

70% success

0/80

Asked in companies

Shortest path followed with some variations like constraints.

Problem approach

Tip 1: Prepare the graph algorithms like Dijkstra's, Bellman-Ford, and Floyd-Warshall.

Try solving now

Round

Medium

Video Call

Duration55 minutes

Interview date24 May 2024

Coding problem1

The interview was held in the afternoon, and the interviewer was the Software Engineering Manager.

1. In-depth Resume Evaluation and Technical Grilling

During this round, they thoroughly scrutinized my resume, asking questions about my internship, projects, and computer fundamentals, including OS, OOP, and DBMS

Problem approach

Tip 1: Prepare computer fundamentals.

Tip 2: Prepare your projects and internship experiences; they will surely ask you about everything related to them.

Round

Hard

HR Round

Duration60 minutes

Interview date25 May 2024

Coding problem3

It was a Tech + HR round (surprisingly, he asked me 2 coding problems in this round). The interviewer had been working at Microsoft for more than 16 years.