Microsoft Software Development Engineer interview questions
based on 1.2K ratings - Updated Jul 22, 2025
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Software Development Engineer applicants have rated the interview process at Microsoft with 4 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 100% positive. To compare, the company-average is 71.3% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Software Development Engineer roles take an average of 1 day to get hired, when considering 1 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Microsoft overall takes an average of 46 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Microsoft as a Software Development Engineer according to 1 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 100%
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The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Microsoft (Redmond, WA) in Jan 2008
Interview
The interview process I went through is a bit abnormal, since the project I worked on was being bought into Microsoft. I did not need a phone interview. Instead, I went straight to Redmond along with my other team members for on-site interview. It started from 9 to 5, full day including lunches. Each interviewer had me for an hour, and asking me coding questions, design questions, my past experience (especially how well I know the project that was being bought into Microsoft), and the usual. At the end of the interview I was taken to a person who said if I wasn't hired I wouldn't have met him, so I was very happy. A few days later I got an offer that is pretty decent, and so I took the job.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Cannot mention too many specific things because of NDA but it is something like write a binary tree and prints the binary tree in some tree-viewable format on the console...
The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (Hyderābād) in Jun 2012
Interview
6 rounds of technical interview:
1st Round:
1)Remove duplicates in unsorted linked list.
Discussed about projects etc
2nd round:
1)Print the matrix helictically
2)Implement the circular queue using array
3rd round:
1)Find whether there exist a path in binary tree whose sum is equal to given number.
2)Optimize it if you know that elements in tree are all positive
3)Test the elevator
4th round:
1)Given Binary tree. Find the maximum balance binary subtree of the tree.
5th round:
1)If from 0 to 9, each digit represents set of characters like
0- {a,b,c}
1-{d,e,f}
...
...
like that total 30 characters. write program for a given number ex:945690123. print all possible strings we can form replacing with characters from above set.
2)Given the coordinates of the buildings as (Si, Ei, Hi) represent start, end, height of building. Write program to print the set of (Xi, Hi) coordinates to draw the skyline of the buildings.
6th Round:
1)How do you design in windows to add an extra attribute to files and design such a way to get the search of the file based on that attribute should be efficient.
I thought I have done the interview fairly well. But I have not got the offer.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
last question stated in the above questions is somewhat difficult
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Microsoft (Bellevue, WA) in Jun 2012
Interview
First interview in English in my life. I was so nervous, stupid and rushed...
Interviewer did his work the same time I was interviewed :). He has not interest to me.
Interview time 1 hour 30 minutes long. I will do my experience better and try to go to interview again later. It was very useful and interesting for me. List have 9 questions.
Interview questions [5]
Question 1
what is method overloading and overriding? Difference? Give examples.