I applied through college or university. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Microsoft (Seattle, WA) in Sep 2010
Interview
I went to the college campus fair. There an alumni took my resume. Two weeks later I got emailed by a recruiter. They scheduled me for an on campus interview. The dress style was business casual.
He asked me three questions: What was my most difficult technical design challenge and why was it challenging. Write a function that will search a linked list for duplicates. Design an interface for a camera that will allow you to uploads photos from the camera to facebook.
The questions were vague. For the programming question you need to ask details about the link list if it is singly or doubly linked. Then ask if you want to remove only consecutive duplicates or any duplicates.
For the design question you need to talk about what the end user would do, how you can make it as automated as possible. Probably draw a functional diagram of the process. They expect you to ask as many questions as possible.
Interview questions [3]
Question 1
What was the most challenging design problem and why was it challenging?
I applied online. I interviewed at Microsoft (Hyderābād) in Jan 2026
Interview
Not a great experience with interviews taking 1 month to complete. Despite ongoing communication, the role did not move forward, reportedly due to approval constraints. The overall experience highlights a gap in aligning internal approvals before progressing candidates to advanced stages.
Clearer communication and better alignment internally would improve the candidate experience
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Questions on Project Experience and Thought process
The interview process is grueling and I get why people do it but its more awareness, know that you'll spend an entire day and meet several people, so it's important to be mentally and physically prepared. Eat a good breakfast but not heavy stay hydrated. This was just for a PM role it's their standard process I imagine executive level is another thing altogether
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Tell me about a time you didn't agree with someone who was a stakeholder on your project and how did you handle that?
Very smooth, thoughtful interview process. It showed the recruiter really cared what I had to contribute and asked great followup clarifying questions. Would definitely recommend everyone try an interview with them even if it doesn't pan out.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Name one project that you have worked on and tell us the outcomes?
Program Manager applicants have rated the interview process at Microsoft with 3.3 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 68% positive. To compare, the company-average is 66.4% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Program Manager roles take an average of 28 days to get hired, when considering 553 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Microsoft overall takes an average of 30 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Microsoft as a Program Manager according to 553 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 39%
Phone interview: 22%
Skills test: 9%
Background check: 7%
Group panel interview: 7%
Personality test: 4%
Presentation: 4%
IQ intelligence test: 3%
Drug test: 2%
Other: 1%
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