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%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
The process took 2 days. I interviewed at Microsoft (Redmond, WA) in Apr 2011
Interview
On site interview on University campus - was asked technical questions and questions regarding previous projects. Then called for a second round interview on site - 4 interviews from 4 different people. Questions were mostly technical programming questions, but last interviewer was more interested in previous work experience and interpersonal skills.
I applied through college or university. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Microsoft in Apr 2011
Interview
Recruiter came to my university, but I sent CV through online system. After I received e-mail with the details of upcoming phone interview. Unfortunately the interview was placed two days after day-light timezone change and my interviewer completely forgot that he's no longer using the timezone in which interview was scheduled at. He called me one hour earlier than he was supposed to do, so I took the interview while walking on the street :/ After the call we switched couple of e-mails and he apologized for that, but still the interview didn't work well.
My hint: Make sure that you and your interviewer agree about the hour and that you'll both stick to it.
Standard background check + some simple technical questions:
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (Redmond, WA) in Sep 2011
Interview
September 18, I flew to Seattle. Microsoft gave us a welcome reception. We had a great time during the reception.
September 19, Interview day. We got up 7:00am. Microsoft staff took us to Microsoft campus to take technical interview, of course, we had our breakfast there. We had four interviews with Microsoft Windows team in the morning, starting from 8:00am. Each interview last for 45mins and we had 15mins break time after each interview.
After the four interviews, Microsoft took us to have launch and we wait for the interview results. After 1:30pm, Microsoft staff would tell us the interview results one by one. Then, Microsoft staff took us to return Westin hotel.
September 20, I together with my friend did a lot of sight seeing in Seattle and Redmond. Then we flew back that night.
Interview questions [3]
Question 1
How to traversal a tree using breadth first method.