I applied through a staffing agency. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Microsoft (Bengaluru) in Mar 2012
Interview
The interview process is moderately tough. The interview is completely oriented towards problem solving questions only, no technology related questions and they expect you to write the code for the problem with all the kind of testing angles keeping it in mind, in short the code should be runnable and productizable as it is. The interview mail tells clearly what they are looking in a candidate I followed their instruction very religiously and I felt it helped me a lot to get offer. For example they say "Don't assume things, ask questions when not clear", it happened to me during the interview, initially they will ask questions with less clarity, so here you need to bring out all the assumptions you are doing etc, you can even ask hints also if required they will help you. Basically their goal is to understand is this guy thinking in right direction and with little help is he able to solve problems ????
Phone interview and then in person with a group. Process moved fairly quickly. Team fit questions and coding questions on the white board. Study up for all basic knowledge skills and some complex problems.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (Redmond, WA) in July 2017
Interview
I applied through a college recruiter. I initially had a phone screening, followed by an in-person interview by the recruiter, before finally having an in-person technical interview.
Phone screen lasted 30 minutes. Recruiter interview 30 minutes. Technical interview 1 hour.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Miscellaneous questions regarding operational knowledge of software and hardware involved in the specific position I was applying for. Design an algorithm to isolate and filter data.