Microsoft | Senior Software Engineer | Level 63
📍 Location: Hyderabad, India
📌 Job Role: Senior Software Engineer
🎯 Job Level: 63
🔢 Number of Rounds: 4
📜 Offer Status: Offered
👤 Candidate Name: Not disclosing due to signed NDAInterview Process:
The interview process consisted of four rounds:
Coding round (1 hour)
Coding + Multi-threading round (1 hour)
Coding + Design round (1.5 hours)
Coding + Project + Design round (Bar raiser round with a director) (1.5 hours)
A day after the interviews, I was informed that I had made it and was asked to share documents for further processing. I accepted the offer as the profile being offered was good.
Preparation Guide:
While I did not follow any specific preparation sources for this interview, my prior FAANG experience helped significantly. Having a strong grasp of:
Data Structures & Algorithms (Leetcode-style questions)
Multi-threading & Low-Level Systems Knowledge
System Design & Scalability Concepts helped me tackle the rounds effectively.
For anyone preparing for a similar role at Microsoft, I would recommend:
Leetcode (Medium to Hard problems) for coding practice
Java concurrency, multi-threading, CPU architecture for multi-threading discussions
Designing Distributed Systems by Martin Kleppmann for system design concepts
Interview Rounds:
Round 1: Coding
Duration: 60 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
The first round was purely coding-based, focusing on problems related to trees and graphs. The two questions asked were:
Maximum Path Sum in a Binary Tree
Follow-up: How would you handle negative numbers in the nodes?
Find Cycle in a Graph
I was able to solve both questions within time, explaining my approach clearly and optimizing where necessary. The follow-up required a bit more discussion, but overall, it went well.
Key Learnings:
Be comfortable with graph traversal (BFS/DFS) as cycle detection is a common topic.
Binary tree problems are a favorite in FAANG and Microsoft interviews.
Clearly explain edge cases and optimizations while solving.
Round 2: Coding + Multi-threading
Duration: 60 minutes
Difficulty Level: Hard
Experience:
This round had one coding problem followed by an in-depth discussion on multi-threading concepts in Java.
LeetCode medium problem on Heap
I don't recall the exact question, but it involved heap operations.
After solving, I was asked to implement the heapify function.
Extensive discussion on Java Multi-threading:
How do two processes communicate with each other?
Handling critical sections with multiple threads.
Internal working of
volatilekeyword in Java.Behavior of
volatilein different CPU architectures:Single CPU, single core
Multiple CPUs, single core per CPU
Multiple CPUs, multiple cores
Internal working of
synchronizedblocks in Java.
The interviewer wanted deep knowledge, down to CPU cache and register levels. It was quite challenging but engaging.
Key Learnings:
Be thorough with Java concurrency and thread synchronization.
Understand CPU architectures as they impact memory consistency models.
Be prepared for low-level discussions on registers, caching, and locks.
Round 3: Coding + System Design
Duration: 90 minutes
Difficulty Level: Hard
Experience:
TCP Packet Reconstruction Problem:
Given incoming TCP packets with offset, length, and an
isEndflag, determine if we can reconstruct the full data.The packets arrive out of order and may have overlapping data.
Approach: Used an interval union approach with
LinkedList.The interviewer probed into bit-level optimizations for data insertion, which made it even tougher.
Design a Memory Manager in an OS:
Proposed a design similar to page tables for managing virtual and real memory.
Used Java heap organization as a reference.
The discussion revolved around memory fragmentation issues and optimizations.
This was one of the toughest rounds, conducted by a Principal Engineer at Azure. It involved deep technical discussions and required clear articulation of design choices.
Key Learnings:
Brush up on system design concepts related to OS memory management.
Understand packet streaming and handling out-of-order data.
Expect in-depth questioning on design trade-offs.
Round 4: Coding + Project + Design (Bar Raiser Round)
Duration: 90 minutes
Difficulty Level: Hard
Experience:
Bar Raiser rounds at Microsoft are usually meant to be broad discussions, but mine turned out to be quite challenging. The previous design round likely raised concerns, leading to a deeper evaluation.
Discussion on my current project:
Focused on design choices and scalability.
Questions aimed at understanding trade-offs and decision-making.
Microservices Design:
Stateless vs stateful services.
Domain-driven design principles.
Design a Cloud-Based Job Scheduler:
Users should be able to schedule one-time or recurring jobs.
Discussion on scalability, failure handling, and distributed queues.
Metrics and Alarming in the Scheduler:
Computation of p99 latency, sum, etc.
How to detect failures and alert mechanisms.
Having prior FAANG experience helped in this round, as I was already familiar with these concepts in my current role.
Key Learnings:
Bar raiser rounds can be unpredictable – always be prepared for deeper dives.
Know your own project well – expect detailed questioning on design choices.
Cloud and distributed systems knowledge is crucial for senior roles.
Final Thoughts:
Multi-threading and low-level system understanding are crucial for senior roles at Microsoft, especially if interviewing for an Azure team.
System design rounds can go deep into scalability, fault tolerance, and optimizations—be prepared.
Coding questions were standard (LeetCode-style), but follow-ups were insightful.
Have strong reasoning behind design choices in your project discussions.
If you are preparing for a Senior Software Engineer role at Microsoft, focus on:
✅ Leetcode Medium-Hard for coding
✅ Java multi-threading, CPU caching, registers
✅ OS memory management & distributed systems
✅ Scalability & fault tolerance in system design
Overall, this was a tough but rewarding interview experience. Best of luck to anyone preparing!