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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I applied through college or university. I interviewed at Microsoft (Durham, NC)
Interview
I went for an initial screening interview on campus. The interviewer was very nice and enthusiastic and made me feel at ease. I was asked to write my code on a piece of paper because there were no whiteboards in the room. Questions were average difficulty. Very enjoyable process largely thanks to the enthusiasm of the interviewer.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
You have a traffic detector that logs a timestamp whenever a car passes by. Write a function to process this array in various ways (don't remember the specifics).
I applied through college or university. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (Redmond, WA) in Dec 2011
Interview
Phone screen followed by an onsite interview. Onsite interview consisted of 4 1-hour interview and 1 lunch interview. 1 hour interviews mostly focused on problem solving/coding. In 1 interview, they asked for design as well but at very high level.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (Seattle, WA) in Mar 2011
Interview
first, HR had a phone screen with some general questions. Then, a senior engineer had a phone screen of technical questions.
Then, on site with 5 engineers about writing code.