Microsoft | L61 / SDE 2 | Offer Accepted

Microsoft | L61 / SDE 2 | Offer Accepted

Current Status: 3.2 YOE Position: SDE1 at Amazon Date Of Interviews: December 15,

Received an OA invitation after a referral

Round 0: OA: Two easy-medium questions.

Round 1: One DSA question based on Merging Intervals. The interviewer was excellent, and I was able to answer all parts of the question. I would rate this round 9/10.

Round 2: Two interviewers conducted this round. Both were polite and positive. I was asked, "There are millions of servers and databases; how would you detect whether files present in the DB are original or have been tampered with by a virus or other means?" This was a challenging question, and I was initially unsure, but I confidently started my design and eventually proceeded. Then, I was asked to design a directory structure, similar to Windows ("C:/{folder}/{files}"). I achieved this using trees and then answered further questions on this topic. Rating for this round (6/10).

I thought I might be eliminated in the second round as I wasn't confident about my approach, but luckily, I was on the right track most of the time. I received a call, and the interviewer asked for my availability.

Round 3: The interviewer was excellent. The questions were: design a URL shortener and then discuss LRU cache. Rating (9.5/10).

Round 4: The interviewer was very polite and positive. He asked me to ask questions, so I asked about the team's work and tech stack. Then, he discussed my previous company projects and presented theoretical situations, asking what I could have done differently. It was a productive discussion, and after 30-35 minutes, the interview ended. Rating (9/10).

Overall: Microsoft interviewers were very kind, polite, and positive. I believe that a comfortable interview environment makes it easier to perform well.