Microsoft | SDE2 - L61 | India | March [Offer]

Current employment Status: Tier 3 College, Position: SDE1 at Amazon

Total Rounds (in summary): 1 Online Assessment + 4 Technical Rounds + 1 Hiring Manager Round

Background: Mid-February : I applied for approximately 40 SDE2 roles at Microsoft via their careers page. A few days later, I received a call from a Microsoft recruiter to schedule a Codility Online Assessment.

Round 1: Codility Online Assessment Test (70 minutes) The assessment consisted of two questions to be solved within 70 minutes, with hidden test cases. I was told that passing 80% of the test cases on both problems would advance me to the next stage.

• DSA problem: A basic array-based question. I solved it in 10 minutes.
• Debugging question: I added two lines of code to fix a BFS-related problem. This took 5 minutes.

The recruiter contacted me three days later to schedule the next two DSA rounds.

Round 2: Technical round - 1 (DSA) The interviewer was very friendly. After a brief discussion about my background and a previous project, I was asked two DSA questions:

• 1st problem: Similar to "Asteroid Collision". Solved in 20 minutes, including test cases and code execution.
• 2nd problem: "Merge in Between Linked Lists". Solved in 30 minutes, including test cases and code execution. The remainder of the time was spent on general discussion about work culture and team/organization.

Round 3: Technical round - 2 (DSA) This interviewer was also friendly. Following a brief introduction and resume review (10 minutes), I was given one DSA problem:

• DSA problem: Similar to "Cheapest Flights Within K Stops", with some modifications. I solved this in 30 minutes, including test cases and code execution. The interviewer asked several follow-up questions about C++ while I was coding. The remaining time was dedicated to project discussion, challenges faced, and my freelance work.

Two days later, the recruiter informed me that the two DSA rounds went well and that they were proceeding to the LLD & HLD rounds.

Round 4: Technical round - 3 (Low Level Design) The interviewer was welcoming. After an introduction and discussion about my interest in Microsoft, I was given an LLD question:

• LLD Question: Design a system to filter transactions stored in a database based on customer ID, start and end duration, etc. I designed a solution using interfaces and classes, incorporating thread-safe implementation with mutexes and locks. I simulated various filter calls using test cases. The final 5 minutes were used to ask about the organization.

Round 5: Technical round - 4 (High Level Design) A senior engineer interviewed me. After a brief introduction, we spent 30 minutes discussing my most challenging project at Amazon. Then, I was asked to design a cloud logging system. I used Microsoft OneNote to draw diagrams and presented a design similar to AWS CloudWatch Logs. The remaining time was spent discussing organizational projects.

Round 6: Hiring Manager Round The interviewer, a VP at Microsoft, focused on a business problem instead of technical questions:

• Question: How many physical devices would be required for a new Microsoft data center? We discussed the factors to consider, such as electricity and space requirements.

The recruiter contacted me the next day to congratulate me and schedule a Hiring Manager Round. The offer letter arrived three weeks later.