Microsoft | SDE | L59 | Hyderabad | Offer

Round 1: CV Shortlisting [Mostly CGPA Based]

Microsoft came for an On-campus (pool drive) opportunity around mid February . More than 100 students applied, out of which about 40 students were shortlisted (both from Mtech and Btech).

Result: Passed. Not sure but they gave priority to CGPA, mostly 9+ CGPA students were shortlisted. Selected candidates were sent OA link separately without any involvement of TnP cell.

Round 2: OA [1.5 Hrs on Codility, Easy-Medium]

Microsoft conducted Pool Drive OA during End February .

• Q1: Don't remember exactly but it required Multi-Source BFS.
• Q2: Don't remember exactly but it was similar to Minimum Cost to connect sticks.

Solved both the questions within 40 min and submitted the test. Was provided no feedback on the final score of OA. NOTE: You can submit your code only once on codility.

Result: Passed. Those who solved both questions were selected for Interviews in March and April. Out of 40, about 18 students were selected and received shortlist email separately without any involvement of TnP cell. Microsoft scheduled my Interview in April (around 1-1.5 months after OA). Interview consisted of 3 techincal rounds (no idea if each was eliminatory or not) and all those 3 rounds were concluded on a single day.

Round 3: First Technical Interview [50 min, Medium]

Interview started with Introduction of me and the interviewer. We discussed about WFH and RTO for few min. He then asked me to share my full screen and shared a codility link for a DSA question. I was given time to read and think. I quickly understood that It was a standard variant of 0/1 Knapsack. But I began with greedy solution as I didn't want to show that I already knew the solution. I explained him the approach. He then asked if it would work always or not i.e he was looking for a testcase in which greedy would fail. Unfortunately neither me nor the interviewer came up with a counter testcase. I started panicking, but the Interviewer told me to code the greedy approach as we were running out of time. I finished that in 10 min in C++. He gave me few testcases and all were passed xD. I also explained him time and space complexity. Since, we were not able to find a counter testcase, I honestly explained him that this problem is solved using DP/ recursion (NOTE: I didn't mention this in beginning of Interview as then he might have asked me some math proof/ etc. to support my argument. Its always better to have a counter testcase to support your argument). He then asked me about DP, Recursion, Memoization and instructed me to explain the DP solution (no code) with time and space complexities. I finally explained everything properly and asked him some follow-up questions regarding the project/ tech-stack he was working on. The interviewer was satisfied with my answers and the Interview was concluded.

Result: Passed. Received call from Recruiter after 15 min for the next round.

Round 4: Second Technical Interview [15 min, Medium]

Interview started 5 min late with Introduction of both me and Interviewer. He then directly started with DSA coding question: Longest substring without any repeating characters. I was asked to code in any sutiable code editor. I chose an online editor and completed the code in 5 min in C++. I missed one edge case and quickly corrected the code after first run. Finally, Interviewer tested my code with some pre-defined testcases, asked me about time and space complexity and was satisifed with my answers. He finally concluded the interview.

Result: Passed. Received call from Recruiter after 15 min for the next and final Round.

Round 5: HR Round (with Project and Technical Discussion) [0.5 Hr, Medium]

Interview started with my Introduction. I had one ML related project and my Final year project was related to Web Dev. Interviewer first asked about some basic non-tech questions from my past internship experience and both the projects. He followed with a detailed/ in-depth technical discussion on both the projects. He then asked more follow-up questions on both the projects that would test my implementation and knowledge skills about these projects. Finally, he asked me about my interest between ML and Software Dev and why I would prefer one over other. At last, I asked him few questions and the interview was concluded.

Result: Passed. Received email from Microsoft next day for the Final Selection for Full time SDE role. Received Interim Offer days after the selection email. Also, out of 18 students, about 8 were finally selected for Full time SDE role.

Other Helpful Information:

• Selected candidates received an invite during End April for a webinar related to organizations and teams that are currently present in Microsoft IDC. After that we were given a form (to be filled within 24 Hrs) that contained 13 choices of organizations, out of which we had to give preference for 3 of them (No preference for location was asked). We were told that final team/ org. would be assigned as per Business requirements and needs. We were also asked to fill choice for DOJ.
• After that we received an email during Mid May for Microsoft relocation assistance in which we had to provide our choice between: Relocation LumpSum OR Managed Relocation Services. Most of new grads choose first option as we freshers usually relocate solo without parents. Strangest thing was: Microsoft sent this form without any information about our location/ team/ org.
• After that Some of us received a call from one of their recruiter during End May for the location preference. We were told that our team/ org. is open in all three locations, so, we need to provide a preference for the location.
• Finally we received Background check email from Microsoft in June and the final offer after 1-2 days of it. Unfortunately none of us got the location that we gave as preference. Saddest part was: Recruiter started ignoring our calls when we asked for any help/ reason for the allocated location.

Microsoft's recruiting process is the most slowest one I've seen so far and yeah they gave us no point of contact, literally we don't know whom to contact if we have got some query to clarify with them.