Microsoft Principal Software Test Lead Interview Questions

Application

I applied through a staffing agency. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (Reading, England (UK)) in January 2016.

Interview

Application:

1. I responded to an ad. posted by rec. agents on one of the job boards before the new year.
2. Got a callback from said rec. agents - 1st week in the New year.
3. Was informed of a scheduled 1hr. phone-interview a week later.
4. Phone interview was successful and consisted largely of 'ownership' aka telling the story of every role on my cv to the client, being prompted accordingly by scenarios whereever the client wanted to get a better handle of my experiences.
5. A 2.5hour Facetoface interview with 3 colleagues in Reading a week later.
  - 1st colleague: direct report on client project I would be attached to (real life scenarios on project)
  - 2nd colleague: Software testing division lead (logical thinking)
  - 3rd colleague: PM on project I would be attached to (team fit)

Questions from phone interview:
  1. Tell me about your proudest role to date.
  2. Tell me about challenges experienced on any projects and how you navigated the situation(s).
  3. Typically what size teams have you managed
  4. What would you say was the split of your responsibilities on previous roles?
  5. Have you dealt with challenging clients and how did you deal with it?
  6. We tried to implement an automated test solution on one of our recent projects, but found out too late it wouldn't work. what would you do to implement an automated test process? [Hint: I didn't even need to answer this question, I simply stated that before I could proceed with answering him - if he could please explain what they previously tried which didn't work well? 'He' did all the talking afterwards and indirectly answered his question. Checkout Harvard review '5 whys?' on youtube]
  6. Here's a scenario on a project, you find a major defect with an app. at the tail end of a project you're on and alert the PM, but the PM being concerned about quality entry /exit criteria e.g. No sev. 1s, 5 sev. 2s etc, set on the project which might affect go-Live/delivery timelines on the project; requests that the new bug not be included on the burndown chart /list of found work for the proj. in order that go-Live isn't impacted. What dyou do? (Hint: emphasise on achieving both i.e. reporting every issue for the highest quality /investigation & delivering the project on time.)
etc and the likes.

I've found that talking about the relevant details of:

 - little details of my previous projects e.g. pattern of major issues resulting from 'friday' deploymnt at a newspaper client
 - everything I learnt from pushing my daughter's buggy on the way to her creche e.g. the stroll will take as fast/slow as I choose to walk,
 - the book I'm reading e.g. Mythical man month: That a woman delivers a baby in 9mnths, does not mean 3women will deliver the same baby in 3months
 - my choir event last night e.g. an uninvolved/little experienced tenor singing, soprano, might cause a conflict of interest.
 - the bitter relationship lessons I'm learning, e.g. must grow and share with the special one & home team
 - the holiday I had with my wife last month e.g. Date with destiny event attended in Florida.
 - racing with my fitbit buddies etc e.g. realising, though I love running and think it's easy for me, it really isn't easy - but that I've only learnt how to accept the rituals I perfome (stretch, lay awake for an hour before getting out of bed, stretch, conquer the fear, pick a destination & determine to get back: take no phone/money or bus pass etc) AND that if I was finding any aspects of my life difficult, I was probably underestimating the amount of rituals /work I needed to develop and get accustomed to.

etc

This sort of stuff, make it a relationship, say to yourself: "this person likes me; now what have they just said and how can I respond intelligently OR what can I say to entertain them about this subject?"