Table of contents
1.
Introduction
2.
About The Job
3.
What is the Role of Research SDE at Microsoft?👩🏻‍💻
4.
Skills Required🤹
5.
How a Research SDE is Different from Software Engineer?
6.
Roadmap for Research SDE 📈
6.1.
Building Strong Foundation💪
7.
Practice for Interviews
8.
Salary of Research SDE💸
9.
Benefits and Perks
10.
Frequently Asked Questions
10.1.
What is SDE in Microsoft?
10.2.
What is a Microsoft researcher's role?
10.3.
How many SDE levels are there?
10.4.
How do you submit an internship application to Microsoft Research India? 
10.5.
What do interns at Microsoft research do?
11.
Conclusion
Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024

Research SDE at Microsoft

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Introduction

So you want to be a Research SDE at Microsoft? You are at the right place :) 

Microsoft is well known as the largest software maker in the world and is one of the best places to work. Building tech solutions that have an impact on billions of people worldwide gives you the chance to learn in a highly competitive environment and to improve your skill sets.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded the company in 1975, and it is best known for its software products, which include the Microsoft Windows operating system, the Microsoft Office suite, and the Internet Explorer web browser.

Research SDE at Microsoft

Microsoft offers equitable employment opportunities. Without regard to age, ancestry, colour, family or medical leave, gender identity or expression, national origin, physical or mental disability, race, religion, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances, all qualified applicants will be given consideration for employment.

We will go over everything you most probably need to know in this article to get the Research SDE job role at Microsoft. 

Hold on to the very end of this article.

About The Job

About the Job

To make sure that Custom Translator is the best in the world, Microsoft is seeking a Senior Research Software Development Engineer. Your work will involve experimenting with methods to improve the quality of customised translation, work with customers to address real-life translation quality challenges, and fine-tune cutting-edge neural MT for a particular domain. 

You will work directly with their research scientists to find new innovative ideas for real world problems, such as improving OCR input and translation quality for text in images.

Being part of a small team will allow you to play a variety of roles and see your ideas through to the end user. As a team member, you will write production code, ship cutting-edge technology to billions of users, and use innovative solutions to tackle real-world problems.

What is the Role of Research SDE at Microsoft?👩🏻‍💻

Microsoft works with the best researchers in the world. An SDE is typically a newly hired or fresher of college junior engineer who is new and amateur.

Role of Research SDE at Microsoft

Candidates for the SDE role should be interested in learning and exploring as well as have a basic knowledge of computers and programming languages.

The main responsibilities of the Microsoft Research SDE role are:

  • To help in solving complex challenges in different domains, including computing, healthcare, economics, and the environment, our researchers and engineers pursue innovation across a range of scientific and technical disciplines.
     
  • You will write production code and provide cutting-edge technologies to billions of people while working as a team member to solve real-world problems.
     
  • Deliver workable, high-quality production code.
     
  • To create software for research, they bring together knowledge in a research domain and the research process with software development skills and practices. They frequently apply their programming expertise to advance research.
     
  • The ideal researcher is a team player with outstanding communication skills and the ability to develop original research agendas.


There are various job openings and internships in Microsoft. 

To know more have a look over these links- Job opportunities at Microsoft and  Internship Program at Microsoft.

Skills Required🤹

For this role, you must be able to meet Microsoft's or the government's security screening criteria. 

Among these criteria are the following specialised security checks, however they are not limited to them:
 

Microsoft Cloud Background Check: When hired or transferred, and every two years after that, this position will require passing the Microsoft Cloud Background Check.

Skills Required

The skills required for Research SDE at Microsoft are given below:

  • A BS / MS / PhD in Computer Science or related field.
  • 4+ Years of experience in software development with large, multi-discipline teams.
  • Strong technical skills involving design and coding.
  • Hands on experience implementing solutions.
  • Strong programming skills in C++, C, C#, or Java.
  • A background in NLP or machine translation is advantageous.
  • Excellent problem-solving skills and a willingness to learn and develop as a tech talent.
  • Excellent communication skills both in writing and verbally.
  • The capacity to think big problem statements, provide alternative technical approaches, and build optimised solutions.
  • Experience with system design, low-level operating systems, performance tuning.
  • Experience working with cloud and large scale data.
  • Working experience with ML, deep learning, and python.
     

Note: The skills needed may vary depending on the nature of the project. 

How a Research SDE is Different from Software Engineer?

The question now is: How is a Research SDE different from a Software Engineer? Let's explore.

Compared to SDE and RSDE, there is a lot more variation between groups. Some groups want a (R)SDE as a research partner. Some only want them for rapid prototyping. Others want their SDEs to take the lead in research (very rare). 

If you're talking about producing shipping code, RSDE is a little more prestigious in MSR than it could be in the rest of Microsoft. The descriptions of the various career ladder levels for RSDEs and SDEs differ but are similar.

You can also check out this link to know more-Difference between System Software and Application Software and Software Engineering

Roadmap for Research SDE 📈

Everything starts with preparation. In this section, we will discuss the complete roadmap to achieve the goal.🎯

It will help you put the efforts in the right direction and remain consistent throughout the preparation. 

Roadmap for Research SDE

You can also find this article very useful during your preparation - Microsoft Recruitment Process.

Building Strong Foundation💪

Start by laying strong foundations. This is the most crucial and significant step, and it has the power to completely change how your preparation will progress further in the future.

Build strong Foundation

  • When coding, always think about the time and space complexity of the solutions and try more than one approach.
     
  • Always prepare the computer science fundamentals like OSComputer NetworksComputer Organization and Architecturefull-stack-web-dev-node-js and DBMS and rather than mugging up the terms, grasp the concepts intuitively. Make notes that you can quickly revise as interview time approaches. 
     
  • OOPS is important from the perspective of the interview. Learn to code using the OOPs paradigm and practise OOPs concepts like abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism in any language of your choice.

Practice for Interviews

It's time to prepare for the interviews now that you have finished learning the fundamentals of coding and have a firm understanding of the concepts. You're correct, of course!

Knowing technical stuff alone will not get you through any interview. Additionally, it's about planning, strategy, and how you (YES, YOU!) drive the interview. Undoubtedly, it is a skill that must be mastered.

Interview practice

From any interview preparation story, consider the following teachings:


To prepare well you can also follow this link-  Microsoft Preparation Guide.

Salary of Research SDE💸

The following aspects make up the salary for a fresher in the Research SDE role at Microsoft as of 2022:

Base salary₹6,21,764 - ₹6,64,055/yr 

( The figures presented above are subject to change by Microsoft )

Benefits and Perks

Benefits and Perks

Some of the benefits of being in Microsoft are-

🧑‍⚕️Industry leading healthcare

💸🤑Savings and investments

🎗️Giving programs

📚Educational resources

👪Maternity and paternity leave

🧑🏼‍🤝‍🧑🏽Opportunities to network and connect

💲Discounts on products and services

⌚Generous time away

Benefits/perks listed above may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

Ta-dah!

Now, You are all set to go 🚀

Now it’s time for questions.🤓

FAQs

You can apply for this job via the Microsoft Career portal using this link Careers at Microsoft.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is SDE in Microsoft?

There are a number of common job titles at Microsoft. The most significant job role is SDE which stands for Software Development Engineer.

What is a Microsoft researcher's role?

To assist in addressing difficult problems in a variety of domains, including computing, healthcare, economics, and the environment, our researchers and engineers explore innovation across a spectrum of scientific and technical disciplines.

How many SDE levels are there?

Software Development Engineers are typically classified into five levels: SDE I, SDE II, SDE III, Architect, and Principal Architect.

How do you submit an internship application to Microsoft Research India? 

Through the company's official website, you may submit an online application for the internship. You must submit your CV and complete your profile. You will also be required to provide the names of a select group of individuals who can attest to your research abilities.

What do interns at Microsoft research do?

Interns use theory and research in the real world. Interns learn, collaborate, and build a lifetime network while working with some of the top researchers in the world. In addition to helping their own careers, interns also enhance the innovative R&D advancements that our researchers are producing.

Conclusion

In this article, we have extensively discussed the job role of Research SDE in Microsoft. In this blog, we’ve explored the Roles and Responsibilities, Eligibility Criteria, Preparation Strategies, and road map to your dream job in Microsoft. 

We hope that this article has helped you enhance your knowledge. 

If you want to learn more, check out these links below:

 

Refer to our guided paths on Coding Ninjas Studio to learn more about DSA, Competitive Programming, JavaScript, System Design, etc. Enrol in our courses and refer to the mock test and problems available, Take a look at the interview experiences and interview bundle for placement preparations.

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