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      Principal Software Engineer Interview

      4 Jun 2026
      Anonymous interview candidate
      Prague
      No offer
      Neutral experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied online. I interviewed at Microsoft (Prague) in May 2026

      Interview

      I applied for Principal Software Engineer for GitHub Copilot. A recruiter reached out to me by email to schedule the first screening round asap. I was surprised, because it isn't how it worked few years back - there was an introductory screening call with recruiter first. In a few days the recruiter called me from abroad on my mobile phone to discuss the interview process and expectations. Compared to few years back, information shared regarding rounds wasn't as detailed, but basic information was provided. Few years back I received information on what soft skills they are looking for in each round and that could be used to prepare examples for discussion. It was not the case this time. We did the screening round, the interviewer was based in US, it went well, a discusssion mainly about past experience. A week later, recruiter phoned me to regrettably inform me that they have decided not to move forward and provided feedback why. They reportedly saw a gap in incident handling, which looks like proxy reason to me/misunderstanding as I have really solid experience in making sure we have a quick resolution, root cause analysis and prevention. The job opening was generic, mentioned many programing languages but it turned out they use almost exclusively Go on the project. I did specifically open this question on both screening calls to judge tech fit. This, together with the solution running in Azure, where I lack experience was probably the main reason for rejection. I would have given this a positive rating if the process was as organized as few years back. It may take a few years until I apply again as the site serves as a junkyard for projects they don't want to do in US and I'm not interested in that.

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      - questions about past experience - technical problems solved - what do you think differentiates principal engineers from senior engineers - incident handling
      Answer question

      Other Principal Software Engineer interview reviews for Microsoft

      Principal Software Engineer Interview

      24 Apr 2026
      Anonymous interview candidate
      Hyderābād
      No offer
      Negative experience
      Average interview

      Application

      I applied online. I interviewed at Microsoft (Hyderābād) in Apr 2026

      Interview

      Absolute pathetic experience with Microsoft Hyderabad. Unable to get a hold of a human or any kind of response from the recruiter. I applied online on Microsoft's careers page. A few weeks later I receive an email from a recruiter asking to pick a slot for a technical screen. Once I confirmed a slot I emailed the recruiter asking for the agenda for the interview. Didn't get any response back. Three days before the interview I emailed the recruiter asking if we can push it by a few days because of personal reasons and if not I can continue with the original time. The recruiter once again didn't reply to my email. An hour before the call she canceled the interview and never sent me an reschedule link or any kind of correspondence. I'm appalled at the lack of professionalism at Microsoft Hyderabad.

      Principal Software Engineer Interview

      31 Mar 2026
      Anonymous interview candidate
      No offer
      Positive experience
      Easy interview

      Application

      I interviewed at Microsoft

      Interview

      HR round Screening - Python Panel round - 5 interviews I passed screening and went for loop rounds. All rounds were pretty good. Got interviewed by Principal level engineers/Managers. Question were around data modeling, system design and coding was on python with hiring manager. Did not pass the interview. Overall was good, HR was very hyelpful and gave feedback as to where I could have done better. Everything was fast and got completed within 2 weeks. The result was released in action center and then HR emailed me back after 4-5 days

      Interview questions [1]

      Question 1

      1. whats star schema and why its called that 2. lot of questions around dimensions and fact tables 3. one made up scenario where I was asked to use AI
      Answer question

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