I applied in-person. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (Seattle, WA) in Jun 2013
Interview
Send my resume to a manager, got a one hour phone interview with him and he wanted to see me onsite. At that point he transmitted to a recruiter to schedule the trip.
Had 3 interview, lunch, and two more. Questions ranging from linked-list to graph. Overall questions were simple but you have to take great care about the coding on the whiteboard, I was not prepared to.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
It was a compiler team, I had to design an alias analysis.
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
Straightforward technical loop overall, with strong interviewers at every stage. I genuinely enjoyed the in-depth conversations around technical challenges and algorithmic problem-solving — the entire process felt well-structured and genuinely engaging.