Interview Experiences

Real candidates, real loops: every round, what was asked, and how it ended.

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49 stories

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MicrosoftSoftware Engineer
Reported Jul 2026

Microsoft Software Engineer interview: nerves on an easy opening question

My experience began with an initial screening round that felt generally easy. I got nervous early and bottled up on the first easy question, which caught me off guard because the overall vibe did not match how tense I felt inside. The process stayed consistent with that: the first stage was meant to be approachable and did not seem designed to trick me. Still, I learned that an easy question can…

Technical Screen0
MicrosoftSoftware Engineer
Reported Jul 2026

Microsoft Software Engineer interview: correct solutions that still timed out

My technical rounds were mostly classic DSA questions, but efficiency mattered most. I could tell they were judging more than whether my logic worked. My approach also had to be optimized enough to pass the last few tests. Time limits were part of the challenge, and if I wrote something too slow, the end of the test suite failed. The process stayed focused on performance. The stressful part was n…

Technical Screen0
MicrosoftSoftware Engineer
Reported Jul 2026

Microsoft Software Engineer Interview Experience: Binary search first, then graph problems

I had an online assessment first, followed by two live coding interviews. The experience was pretty middle-of-the-road for me: not relaxed, but not chaotic either. The first coding interview had a medium LeetCode-style binary-search problem, while the second shifted to graphs. I also discussed general software-development principles and problem-solving. The interviewers were professional and easy…

Online Assessment0
MicrosoftSoftware EngineerSenior+
Reported Jun 2026

CoreAI Loop With an AI Coding Round, After 11 Loops in a Year

A bit of background first. I spent 6 years at a big fintech, and most of that time went into building an internal experimentation platform. I want to be honest about the niche angle, because I think people assume the opposite of what happened. I never planned to specialize. I sent applications everywhere, senior backend roles, anything that looked decent. Only when I reviewed my own funnel at the…

OfferOnsite0
MicrosoftSoftware EngineerSenior+
Jun 2026

A Two-Day Virtual Onsite with a Strange AI Fluency Round

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RejectedOnsitePremium0
MicrosoftSoftware Engineer
Reported Jun 2026

Microsoft Software Engineer Interview Experience: A demanding opening test

Before I could speak with a recruiter, I had to clear a technical test. It was challenging enough to feel like a real filter and about what I expected from Microsoft. Once I passed that hurdle, the rest of the process moved forward, but I did not receive an offer. The test set the tone immediately, and the bar felt consistent with Microsoft's reputation. My main takeaway was that proving I could…

Technical Screen0
MicrosoftSoftware Engineer
Reported Jun 2026

Microsoft Software Engineer Interview: Two SDE2 online assessment problems

I started with an online assessment for a Software Development Engineer 2 role. It had two DSA questions, one medium and one harder. I got full marks on every test case for the medium problem. I came close on the hard one, but it was not perfect. After the OA, I waited and tried to work out whether I might get a callback. I had no further detail from the process; the assessment result was the onl…

Online Assessment0
MicrosoftSoftware Engineer
Reported Jun 2026

Microsoft Software Engineer interview: passed OA then decline

My process started with an OA for a role that had the same title but a different job code. I fully passed both OA questions, but there were still more rounds afterward. The first interview was 45 minutes, followed by a loop with three separate 45-minute rounds on different days. Even though I felt prepared and thought I had done well, the process ended without an offer. I waited for several month…

RejectedOnline Assessment0
MicrosoftSoftware Engineer
Reported Jun 2026

Microsoft Software Engineer interview experience

I took a LeetCode-style test with three problems, then went through three interviews with different managers. Each manager interview ran for about an hour and combined a coding problem with behavioral questions. The format made it clear they were weighing both problem solving and how I described my thinking and experience. The test came first, and each manager conversation added a human layer tha…

Online Assessment0
MicrosoftSoftware Engineer
Reported Jun 2026

Microsoft Software Engineer Interview Experience: LRU cache and C++ vector implementation

My take home coding work and later interviews were more system oriented than quick algorithm exercises. I worked on two DSA problems: an LRU cache with a higher level design angle, and a vector related implementation using arrays, pointer arithmetic, and heap allocation in C++. The interviewers were friendly and fun to talk with, which made it easier to think out loud during implementation. The s…

Take-home Project0
MicrosoftSoftware Engineer
May 2026

Phone Screen, Three Onsites, and a Template Rejection

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RejectedOnsiteXP0
MicrosoftSoftware EngineerSenior+
Reported Apr 2026

Four-Month Loop, Hard OA, Senior Offer

I first tried to break into big tech back in 2022. I had no idea how hiring worked there and had never even heard of LeetCode, so it went about as badly as you'd expect. After two Google attempts and one at Amazon, I finally have a Senior offer from Microsoft, and honestly it feels great. The 2022 tries (Google and Amazon) came before I knew anything. It was only in 2024 that I stopped, wrote a s…

OfferOnsite0
MicrosoftSoftware Engineer
Apr 2026

Four Rounds, Best Vibe I Had All Year

Four rounds, overall a really relaxed vibe. Posting my Microsoft interview experience to give back to the forum. Bottom line up front: this was the most comfortable-feeling interview I had all year. The interviewers were pretty much all friendly, nobody tried to trip me up on purpose, and when I got stuck they'd proactively throw me a rope. The questions were medium difficulty, but they cared a l…

Onsite0
MicrosoftSoftware EngineerSenior+
Reported Apr 2026

Painter's Partition Screen, Same-Day Two-Round Loop, Then the AA Round

I applied for a Senior Software Engineer opening through the careers portal. About a week later a recruiter phoned to set up a technical screen, and the screen itself took place a week after that. This was my first ever Microsoft interview, so I was thrilled and nervous in equal measure. Technical Screen round The screen was a single coding problem, labelled LeetCode easy. I didn't recognize it a…

Onsite0
MicrosoftSoftware Engineer
Reported Apr 2026

LLD in the Screening Round, Top-K Design in the Behavioral Round, Offer

Update: I got an offer for a Microsoft L61 role after about 5 months of prepping and interviewing. My background is in trading platforms. I built strategies for traders and also did some infra work where latency mattered a lot. I wanted to move to big tech to work on products at scale, to have a stronger name on my resume, and of course for the better pay :) For prep I did the usual. LeetCode for…

OfferOnsite0
MicrosoftSoftware Engineer
Mar 2026

A Three-Round Phone Screen (Largest Island, Count Clouds, Find the Influencer), Then ChatGPT System Design

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Technical ScreenXP0
MicrosoftSoftware Engineer
Mar 2026

Online Assessment with a Balanced-Window and Monotonic-Stack Problem

Q1 — problem You're given a permutation p of length n. For each k (1 ≤ k ≤ n), determine whether there's a contiguous subarray that is exactly a permutation of the numbers 1 through k (order doesn't matter). If one exists, call k "balanced." The final output is a length-n binary string, where the k-th digit says whether k is balanced. Q1 — approach The key isn't to enumerate subarrays — it's to f…

Online Assessment0
MicrosoftSoftware Engineer
Feb 2026

A Full-Day HE With a Matrix-Move Puzzle and Two Design Rounds

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OnsiteXP0
MicrosoftSoftware Engineer
Feb 2026

A Four-Round Onsite That Felt Like a Formality

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OnsiteXP0
MicrosoftSoftware Engineer
Feb 2026

Four Onsite Rounds, Failed on an Unfamiliar Coding Problem

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RejectedOnsiteXP0

What are interview experiences?

An interview experience is a candidate's own account of a hiring loop — not a question bank entry. It tells you the shape of the process: how many rounds there were, what each round actually tested, how long the gaps between them ran, and what the recruiter said at the end. That context is the part a question list cannot give you.

How to read them

Weight recent write-ups more heavily — interview loops change, often within a year. Read several for the same company and role rather than one: a single account tells you what one interviewer asked, while five tell you what the bar is. Note the outcome badge too, since a rejection write-up usually explains the gap far more precisely than an offer one.

Share your own

Every published experience earns 50 XP, and each of the first 3 likes it receives in a day earns you 10 XP more. Likes must come from established accounts; like-for-like swaps and likes from your own second account are not paid. Write it while the details are fresh — the round order, the exact prompts, and how much time you were given are what the next reader needs.

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