Interview Experience - 163 - Microsoft | Software Development Engineer (SDE) | L59
Summary
Job Role: Software Development Engineer
Number of Rounds: 5
Offer Status: Offer
Location: Hyderabad
Candidate Name: Not disclosing due to NDA
Interview Process
Microsoft came for an On-Campus (pool drive) opportunity around mid-February 2022. The drive was open for two roles — Hardware Engineer and Software Engineer. However, from what I observed, only students applying for the Software Engineer role were shortlisted.
The process was structured into 5 rounds: starting with CV shortlisting, followed by an Online Assessment (OA), and then three rounds of interviews (two technical rounds and one HR/Project discussion).
The entire timeline spanned multiple months. It started in February and the interviews concluded by April 2022. Post-interview steps included a webinar to understand Microsoft’s teams, filling team preferences, relocation assistance formalities, and background checks. The final offer was rolled out in June 2022.
Preparation Guide
I relied heavily on LeetCode for practice and discussions, and I am extremely thankful to the platform and the broader community for resources, problem discussions, and interview guidance.
Key areas of preparation included:
Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA): Solving problems regularly and focusing on standard patterns like BFS/DFS, dynamic programming, sliding window, and greedy techniques.
Projects: Being prepared to explain projects in depth, especially implementation details, choices made, and trade-offs.
Behavioral/HR Readiness: Preparing answers around past experiences, career choices, and interests (for example, ML vs Software Development).
Interview Rounds
Round 1: CV Shortlisting
Duration: N/A
Difficulty Level: Easy
Experience:
Microsoft conducted CV shortlisting as the first stage. Around 100 students applied (including both B.Tech and M.Tech). Out of these, approximately 40 students were shortlisted. The selection seemed primarily CGPA-based, with a clear advantage for candidates having a 9.0+ CGPA.
Key Learnings:
Maintaining a high CGPA (preferably above 9) greatly increases the chance of being shortlisted for such drives.
Round 2: Online Assessment (OA)
Duration: 1.5 hours
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
The OA was conducted on the Codility platform in late February 2022. It had two questions of easy-to-medium difficulty:
A problem that required Multi-Source BFS.
A problem similar to Minimum Cost to Connect Sticks (LeetCode link).
I managed to solve both within 40 minutes and submitted successfully. However, one important limitation on Codility is that you can only submit once. I received no feedback on the score or results afterward.
Key Learnings:
Solve questions quickly and accurately, as there is no multiple submission option.
Be familiar with common problem patterns like BFS and greedy/heap approaches.
Round 3: First Technical Interview
Duration: ~50 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
The interview began with introductions and a brief casual discussion. The interviewer then shared a Codility link and asked me to solve a DSA problem.
The question was a variant of the 0/1 Knapsack problem. I initially attempted a greedy approach, explaining my thought process step by step. The interviewer challenged me to find a test case where greedy would fail. Unfortunately, neither of us could come up with a counterexample in the limited time.
I then coded the greedy approach in C++ within 10 minutes. It passed all the given test cases. After that, I explained why a DP/Recursion approach is the standard way to solve such problems. I went over recursion, memoization, and explained time and space complexities without coding the DP solution.
The interviewer seemed satisfied with my reasoning and explanation. We concluded with a few questions I asked about his current projects and tech stack.
Key Learnings:
It’s perfectly fine to start with a simpler approach before moving to the optimal one.
Be honest about your reasoning process.
Always explain time and space complexities.
Use the chance to ask follow-up questions about the interviewer’s work — it shows interest and builds rapport.
Round 4: Second Technical Interview
Duration: ~15 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
This interview was short and to the point. After introductions, the interviewer directly gave a problem:
Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters.
I coded the solution in C++ using an online editor. I initially missed an edge case but quickly corrected it after the first run. The interviewer validated the code with multiple test cases and asked me about time and space complexities.
The interview ended once he was satisfied with my explanation and implementation.
Key Learnings:
Be quick but accurate when coding.
Always consider edge cases carefully.
Be ready to explain the reasoning behind time and space complexity.
Round 5: HR Round (with Project and Technical Discussion)
Duration: ~30 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
This round started with general introductions and moved into a discussion of my projects. I had two major projects:
A Machine Learning project.
My Final Year project in Web Development.
The interviewer asked multiple in-depth questions about both projects — covering implementation details, technologies used, and reasoning behind decisions. Some of the questions tested whether I truly understood what I had built.
We then moved to a broader career discussion. The interviewer asked me to explain my interest in ML vs Software Development, and why I would prefer one path over the other.
Finally, I asked him a few questions before we wrapped up the interview.
Key Learnings:
Be ready for deep dives into your projects — both technical and decision-making aspects.
Have clarity about your career interests and choices.
Always prepare some questions for the interviewer — it leaves a positive impression.
Final Thoughts
The entire Microsoft interview process was well-structured and balanced. It tested not only DSA skills but also project depth, reasoning ability, and clarity of thought about career direction.
Some takeaways for future candidates:
CGPA matters for shortlisting in campus drives.
Prepare thoroughly for standard DSA patterns — BFS, sliding window, dynamic programming, greedy, hash maps.
Practice coding in an online editor to avoid surprises.
Be honest and transparent in explaining your thought process.
Expect detailed project discussions; don’t just know what you built, but also why you built it that way.
Finally, always remember to ask thoughtful questions at the end of interviews — it shows engagement and genuine interest.