I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Microsoft (Bengaluru) in Apr 2012
Interview
I had 5 rounds of interview. The first round is a gate-keeper round, which I cleared to get into a full-day interview process (which have atleast 4 rounds of interview).
The interviews are basically technical - algorithm and data structures.
The difficulty level of the interview keeps increasing, and steeply at times.
The first three rounds are simpler, while the last two rounds are more difficult and are focused on trying to exactly map out the individual's strengths and weaknesses. (I got through the first 4 rounds, but did not clear the last one)
The interviewers are pretty open to giving hints and helping you out in solving the problem.
Apart from the solution itself, I feel that positive approach, openness to reconsider, and think through the solution are also important aspects.
Preparing for the interview with online interview questions helps, but the experience of the interview is truly new. The level of questions can be easily jacked up, so it helps to prepare, but stay calm and actually think in the interview.
I also felt that they need to be re-assured that you enjoy the process of solving, and can actually do this effectively. They also are very keen on accurate self-assessment.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Give the lowest time complexity algorithm for finding out all combinations of numbers a, b, c in an array of integers such that square(c) = square(a) + square(b)
The interview was a long process. There was first the recruiter screen, which was followed by a 4-loop interview structure that covered technical, behavioral, and system design. The interviewers were very kind and accommodating.
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft
Interview
After my application to ClipChamp - Microsoft, a recruiter reached out and scheduled my first interview. It was about basic interview questions and background analysis. After that I had my technical interview. The recruiter specifically said that I would be facing medium hacker rank questions. So I prepared accordingly. However, what I actually got was to analyse an application and re work it according to new requirements. I felt like I was set up for failure on purpose. Didn’t even hear back after that interview.
Took a bit longer than I thought, spanning about three weeks from start to finish. After a quick recruiter screen, I had a technical round where I was asked about validating a binary search tree. The wild part is, I had literally seen this exact problem on prachub.com while prepping. It helped me feel more confident discussing my approach and edge cases. There was also a behavioral interview where I shared my experiences, and eventually, I received an offer. I chose to decline it, though, as it wasn't the right fit for me at the time.