The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (San Diego, CA) in Oct 2009
Interview
it was a 1:1 on campus interview. The recruiter asked me the following question: "We have two sorted single direction linked lists. Write an efficient algorithm to merge them together and the outcome should be sorted as well. Creating a new linked list is not allowed". Then he asked whether I was graduating the following quarter to which I answered no. After two weeks received and email that said, they could not proceed with the second round of interviews and they can not tell my why!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would merge two sorted linked lists without creating a new one so that the outcome is sorted as well.
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.
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