I applied online. The process took 3 days. I interviewed at Microsoft (Redmond, WA) in Jan 2017
Interview
The entire process was about 3 months long. (November-January). Applied online and heard back within a month for a phone screening. After moving on through the phone screening, I went to the onsite interview. This was a 3 day process in January. The first and last days were allotted for travel, and the second day was mainly for the interview. The 3-day trip to Seattle was a very fun experience, but being at Microsoft for one day was not.
The onsite interview was an extremely grueling process; both the candidate and the interviewers were completely drained by the end. 4 interviews total, at about 45 minutes each with a 10 minute break in between each one. After these interviews, a decision will be made about your offer in two weeks.
After having gone through many interviews for technical roles, I found Microsoft's process to be needing the most improvement. The employees interviewing seemed as though they disliked the job via their demeanor and and answers to questions posed about work-life balance, as well as the average hours a Microsoft employee will work per week. Furthermore, Microsoft did not offer much in terms of "selling" their company to a future employee, as compared to other company's candidacy process. No tour throughout the campus, no Microsoft gear to take home, and no real connections to any of the current employees.
Overall, this process made it seem like Microsoft was a very demanding corporation that did not offer much for employees with a life outside of work, but the trip to Seattle was a fun experience.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How you would create a service to provide Microsoft updates to over a billion devices?
Expect a lengthy hiring process that can take at least two months from start to finish. In my experience, there was approximately one month of interviews followed by another month waiting for the final decision. Be prepared for a slow timeline, especially after completing all interview stages.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time where have above and beyond for a customer
I applied online. I interviewed at Microsoft (Melbourne)
Interview
After submitting an online application, I received a HackerRank assessment after passing the resume screening stage, then I was rejected after completing the assessment and did not proceed to further interview rounds.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The assessment consisted of two LeetCode-medium-level coding questions to be completed within 75 minutes.
45 mins technical interview with a member of their San fran team. Very relaxed and informal but questions were focused and lots of follow ups. Easy to schedule as was over video conferencing platform