Microsoft Software Engineer Interview Experience — Online Assessment, Knapsack DP Timeout Turned Binary Search

Microsoft·Software Engineer·Aug 2025
Online Assessmentmedium

I think I probably failed. Two problems in 90 minutes, and right after layoffs they're still running a hiring event, which is honestly a dark joke. The role is general level 62.

My first problem was labeled medium difficulty, and the second was said to be harder. But I used knapsack DP for the first problem and it timed out... I ended up rewriting it as binary search right at the wire. They claim to have proctoring, so I'm not sure what happens if you just have AI write the code for you. Neither problem was actually hard in theory — the first one already involved sorting, so there was no need to do it as a knapsack problem at all. Lesson learned: don't be like me and start coding before actually reading the problem carefully... The second problem was a classic shortest path — just build the graph yourself. The only real difficulty was probably the input format.

Honestly though, this company is laying people off right now too, so it's not exactly a rock-solid job, and it also requires relocating to Seattle. My work experience isn't quite enough either. I don't understand why the recruiter insisted I apply for level 62 instead of 61.

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Curated and edited by PracHub

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Interview at a glance

Company
Microsoft
Role
Software Engineer
Rounds
Online Assessment
Difficulty
medium
Interview date
Aug 2025
Questions from this interview
1 question

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