Software Engineer applicants have rated the interview process at Microsoft with 3.3 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 75% positive. To compare, the company-average is 71.9% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Software Engineer roles take an average of 18 days to get hired, when considering 359 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Microsoft overall takes an average of 18 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Microsoft as a Software Engineer according to 359 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 20%
Presentation: 14%
Skills test: 14%
Phone interview: 11%
Background check: 8%
Group panel interview: 8%
Personality test: 8%
IQ intelligence test: 7%
Other: 5%
Drug test: 4%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Microsoft in Mar 2021
Interview
This was my first interview with the recruiter. It was behavioral, and the interviewer questioned me mostly on my resume. Apart from asking me to talk about my past experiences in the software industry, he also asked why I would like to work for Microsoft, what my favorite Microsoft product was and how I could improve it.
I was also asked some technical questions pertaining to multithreading and recursion, but that was about it for technical stuff. The interview was mostly focused on my experiences and how I would deal with hypothetical situations.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe your favorite project and tell me why it is your favorite?
I applied online. I interviewed at Microsoft (Melbourne)
Interview
After submitting an online application, I received a HackerRank assessment after passing the resume screening stage, then I was rejected after completing the assessment and did not proceed to further interview rounds.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The assessment consisted of two LeetCode-medium-level coding questions to be completed within 75 minutes.
45 mins technical interview with a member of their San fran team. Very relaxed and informal but questions were focused and lots of follow ups. Easy to schedule as was over video conferencing platform
Straightforward technical loop overall, with strong interviewers at every stage. I genuinely enjoyed the in-depth conversations around technical challenges and algorithmic problem-solving — the entire process felt well-structured and genuinely engaging.