Microsoft Software Engineer Interview Experience — SDE-2 Loop with an AI-Assisted Design Round and a Linux cp Deep Dive

Round 1

The first problem was a variant of Longest Repeating Character Replacement. We discussed both the brute-force and the optimal solution in the interview, and I implemented it.

The second problem was a Medium-difficulty tree traversal question.

We also discussed some basic DSA concepts.

Round 2

Design a notification system for Windows that lets different applications generate and display notifications.

1. AI assistance was allowed in this round, and actually required.
2. The interviewer focused on how you write prompts, how you refine them, and how you evaluate the answers the AI gives you, not just on taking the AI's code and using it directly.

Round 3

Design a Proximity Search system for a food delivery scenario, to find restaurants within a 10 km radius.

1. There were multiple follow-up questions.
2. Before the interview ended, I had to hand-write the code for part of the design we had discussed.

Round 4

How would you implement the Linux cp command.

1. From there it went into a deep discussion of low-level OS and C++ concepts.
2. Combined with the project experience on my resume, they tested a lot of Operating Systems, C++, and low-level concepts.

Round 5

Behavioral interview built around my resume, past work, and achievements.

1. Detailed discussion of past projects, technical architecture decisions, and individual contributions.
2. Discussion of the challenges I ran into on those projects and the impact of the work.