The first round Interview was timed for 45 minutes. The inetrviewer didn't waste any time and started straight with a DSA question after a small chat. It was a DSA question which was a Dynamic Programming question if tried to be solved with the most optmized solution but the brute force approach was encouraged by the interviewer which was supposedly a Recursive approach.It was a little tricky to code.
The interviewer was friendly and helping at every step, also helping or hinting to think in a direction which can be said as a good discussion.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
1 question about interpreting a string message from its concatinated and distorted form. A spy message interpreting problem to what it originally could be.
I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Microsoft (Redmond, WA) in Nov 2024
Interview
chill ngl. interviewers were very respectful and seemed to care a little more about my experience both in school and professionally. i'd say amongst the smoothest interview experiences amongst the big tech firms.
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft in Nov 2024
Interview
Applied for Dublin office. OA consisted of a Leetcode Easy + Medium/Hard Dynamic Programming q. Offered final round interview day after completion. 3x45 minute interviews.
Advice: Look out for edge cases, ask for what types of erroneous inputs you could expect. Interviewers will give you hints if needed, and usually know the optimal solution off by heart. Interview was easy by big 5 standards.
Offer received 4 days after final interviews.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
10-15 mins behavioural assessment to check "cultural values", asked when I showed accountability, time-management skills and leadership. Then 30 mins codility assessments.
First interview was LC medium (Subdomain Visit Count), pseudocode was optimal but didn't compile due to syntax mixup
Second interview was LC easy (Roman Numeral to Num), but interviewer wanted optimal solution. Interviewer only wanted pseudocode
Third interview was Buy & Sell Stock 1,2 and 4 in 30 mins so very time-pressured. First two compiled, last had pseudocode.
Third interview also asked about a personal project, just high-level details but prepare what your biggest challenge was