I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (Redmond, WA)
Interview
A recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn. From there, we scheduled a technical phone interview. There were three questions that were increasing in difficulty. There was no virtual whiteboard so I had to explain how I would approach the problem and speak to time/space trade offs. At the end of the phone interview, the interviewer informed me that they would like to fly me out for an on-site interview.
The on-site process was straight forward. There were a total of 5 interviews (I'm told if you don't do well in the first few, they dismiss you after lunch). The first 4 interviews begin with a coding problem, and if there's time left over, you have the opportunity to ask the interviewer any questions you want. The lunch interview involves some casual conversation to get to know you a little better followed by a short coding problem. The final interview was a system design question followed by some behavioral questions.
After the on-site interview, I was contacted within a week with news that they were moving forward with an offer.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Study your basic data structures: how to implement a few of the main ones, performance/size considerations.
Practice some interview questions (e.g. leetcode) on a white board or piece of paper and practice speaking aloud. Speak about how you're approaching the problem, some pros/cons of your approach. When studying interview questions, really focus on the techniques associated with solving general problems (greedy, two pointer, etc.) as it's highly unlikely that you'll see a question you've seen before. The interview questions are designed to be novel. Prepare by knowing how to solve problems, not memorizing solutions.
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.
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Microsoft (Bangalore Rural) in June 2026
Interview
The interview was hard, even as a fresher the dsa they asked was hard category after I checked on leetcode. Though I couldn't solve it. Some of the other people who interviewed were asked easy - medium dsa
The interview was a long process. There was first the recruiter screen, which was followed by a 4-loop interview structure that covered technical, behavioral, and system design. The interviewers were very kind and accommodating.
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