Microsoft

The process, round by round

Reported by candidates and, where we found one, the company itself. Each round shows how well it is reported. Processes change by team, level and year.

1. 1

   Recruiter or team screening

   Recruiter or phone screen

   One report

   Microsoft's page says the team might schedule a brief screening conversation after resume review to decide who to invite; it gives no length or format. The two candidate reports only say a recruiter reached out (one via LinkedIn, one within about a week of applying).

   • suitability for an interview invitation

   Varies: The official page says the team 'might' hold one, so it is not universal.

   What can be asked in a recruiter or phone screen round

   A short call that decides whether you move on. Part resume and motivation, sometimes one easy coding or fundamentals question in a shared editor.

   • Walk me through your resume and your best project

     Give a two minute spine, not a life story: who you are now, the one or two projects that matter most, and why this role is the next step. Pick the best project and state the problem, your part, the technology and one measurable result. Keep every claim something you can defend if the next question digs in. You could open with: I am a backend engineer, and the project I am proudest of is the one where I cut checkout latency.

     Screening call chapter →
   • Why this company and why now

     The listener wants to know whether your reason is specific and sincere, not flattery. Name one or two real things about the product, the engineering problems or the team that you have looked at, then connect them to something you have done or want to learn. Why now should be about your growth, not escaping your current job. An opening could be: I have used the product, and the scaling problem it describes is the kind I want to work on.

     Screening call chapter →
   • Notice period, location and compensation expectations

     Give the facts that are true and keep the negotiation for later. State your notice period exactly as your contract says, and mention whether it can be shortened or bought out only if that is real. For compensation, say you would like to understand the role and level first, or give a researched range rather than a single anchor. Never invent a current figure. If you are asked directly, answer honestly and calmly.

     HR and the number chapter →
   • One easy or medium coding question, or a language fundamentals question

     Treat it as a short version of the full coding round. Repeat the problem back, ask about input size and edge cases, state a plan before typing, and talk while you code. For a language question, such as what a closure is or how a hash map handles collisions, give a one line definition and a tiny example. A good line is: first I will do the simple approach so we have something correct, then improve it.

     Tech phone screen chapter →

   Prepare with: Book · Screening callBook · Tech phone screen

   3 sources for this round

   • OfficialMicrosoft Careers: How we hire ↗
   • Candidate write-up · 2025GeeksforGeeks: Microsoft SDE-1 (Hyderabad) ↗
   • Candidate write-upProgramHelp: Microsoft SDE-II interview record ↗
2. 2

   Online coding assessment

   Online assessment90-105 min

   Several reports

   Timed coding test on Codility or HackerRank with two or three problems (strings, matrices, dynamic programming). One SDE-II report needed over 50 percent to pass; a Hyderabad SDE-1 report needed roughly half the problems.

   • dynamic programming
   • string and matrix manipulation
   • timed implementation

   Varies: Platform and length differ between reports (Codility, 90 min versus HackerRank, 105 min). An Azure SDE-I report does not mention an OA, and an intern report had one after resume shortlisting.

   What can be asked in a online assessment round

   A timed test on a coding platform, taken alone. Usually two or three coding problems, sometimes with multiple-choice questions on CS basics, aptitude or SQL.

   • Array and string problems that need a hash map, two pointers or a sliding window

     Read the constraints first, because they point to the technique. If n is 100,000, an O(n^2) scan will time out, so look for a hash map, two pointers on a sorted array, or a window that moves forward only. Sketch the brute force, find the repeated work, then remove it. For two-sum style pairs you might say: I store each value's index as I scan, so the complement lookup is O(1) and the whole pass is O(n).

     DSA course →
   • Greedy and sorting problems with a catch in the constraints

     Greedy problems hide behind a sort. Ask what ordering makes the locally best choice safe, then try to argue why swapping two adjacent choices never helps. Interval scheduling is the classic case: sort by end time and take every interval that starts after the last chosen one. Check the catch in the constraints, such as overflow, ties or equal values, and test a tiny case by hand before submitting.

     DSA course →
   • A medium dynamic programming or graph-on-a-grid problem

     Decide whether the problem is a graph walk or a recurrence. On a grid, a shortest path with equal step cost is breadth-first search from the start, with a visited set so each cell is processed once, giving O(rows x cols). For dynamic programming, define the state in one sentence, write the transition, set the base cases, then see if only the previous row is needed to save space.

     DSA course →
   • SQL queries with joins and group by

     Start from the table that holds the thing being counted, join the others on their keys, filter rows with WHERE, group, then filter groups with HAVING. Remember that WHERE runs before grouping and HAVING after. Use LEFT JOIN when rows with no match must still appear, and COUNT of a column rather than star when nulls matter. Example: customers with more than three orders is GROUP BY customer_id HAVING COUNT(*) > 3.

     Databases →
   • Multiple-choice questions on OOP, operating systems, databases and networks

     These reward quick, accurate recall rather than long reasoning, so revise the short list of definitions that recur. Know the difference between a process and a thread, the four ACID properties, what an index trades for faster reads, TCP against UDP, and the four pillars of OOP. Eliminate two wrong options first, then choose. Do not spend more than a minute on any single question, and flag it to return to if time remains.

     Mock interviews →

   Prepare with: Book · Online assessmentDSA course

   3 sources for this round

   • Candidate write-up · 2025GeeksforGeeks: Microsoft SDE-1 (Hyderabad) ↗
   • Candidate write-upProgramHelp: Microsoft SDE-II interview record ↗
   • Candidate write-up · 2025Jointaro: Microsoft SDE intern, India ↗
3. 3

   Coding interviews

   Data structures and algorithmsabout 45-60 min each

   Several reports

   Two or three technical interviews, in some reports on Teams with a shared coding tool, usually one or two problems each (trees, lists, grids, arrays), with hints and edge-case testing. Microsoft's guidance says interviews can be by phone, Teams or in person, that you code in a language you are strong in with a tool that can compile and run, and that you should test before saying you are done.

   • data structures and algorithms
   • testing your own solution
   • thinking aloud
   • optimal approach

   Varies: Count varies between reports; one candidate went straight to the manager round after two coding rounds.

   Practise for this round

   • CodingPopulating Next Right Pointers in Each NodeMedium · O(n)→
   • CodingLongest Repeating Character ReplacementMedium · O(n)→
   • CodingRelative Sort ArrayEasy · O(n + m + r log r)→

   What can be asked in a data structures and algorithms round

   A live coding round of 45 to 60 minutes with one or two problems. You are judged on how you clarify, reason, code, test and state the complexity, not on the answer alone.

   • Arrays, strings and hashing: pairs, windows, frequency counts, prefix sums

     Name the pattern from the shape of the question. Pairs with a target use a hash map of seen values. A contiguous range with a condition uses a sliding window that grows on the right and shrinks on the left, so each element enters and leaves once, giving O(n). Range sums over many queries use a prefix sum array so each query is O(1) after O(n) setup. Count characters with a fixed-size array or map.

     DSA course →
   • Linked lists, stacks and queues, including design-a-structure problems such as an LRU cache

     For an LRU cache, combine a hash map from key to node with a doubly linked list ordered by recency. Get moves the node to the front, put inserts at the front, and when over capacity you remove the tail node and its map entry. Both operations are O(1), and you say why: the map finds the node, the list reorders it without a scan. For stacks, mention a monotonic stack for next greater element.

     DSA course →
   • Trees and BSTs, graphs (BFS, DFS, topological sort, shortest paths) and grids

     Decide the traversal from what is asked. Level by level or shortest path in an unweighted graph is BFS with a queue. Exploring all paths, components or cycles is DFS. A dependency order is topological sort: Kahn's algorithm repeatedly removes nodes with in-degree zero, and leftover nodes mean a cycle. Weighted shortest path with non-negative edges is Dijkstra with a heap, O((V + E) log V). On a BST, an in-order walk is sorted.

     DSA course →
   • Heaps and top-K, intervals, binary search on the answer

     For the K largest items keep a min-heap of size K: push each element and pop the smallest when the heap exceeds K, so the cost is O(n log K) and memory is O(K). For intervals, sort by start, then merge by comparing the next start with the current end. For binary search on the answer, define a yes or no check that is monotonic, such as can ship within D days, and search the capacity range.

     DSA course →
   • Dynamic programming from one dimension up to knapsack and string DP

     Define the state in a sentence, write the recurrence, fix the base cases, and decide the order of filling. Start with the recursive version with memoisation, then convert to a table. For 0/1 knapsack, dp[w] is the best value at capacity w, and in the one dimensional form you loop capacity downward so each item is used once. For string problems such as edit distance, the state is a pair of prefix lengths.

     DSA course →
   • Follow-ups: optimise space, handle streaming input, make it thread-safe

     Treat follow-ups as a chance to show depth, and answer in the same calm order each time. To save space, ask which previous rows or values the recurrence actually reads and keep only those. For streaming input, say what summary you can keep, such as a heap of size K or a running count. For thread safety, name the shared state, guard it with a lock, and keep the critical section short.

   Prepare with: Book · DSA roundDSA course

   4 sources for this round

   • OfficialMicrosoft Careers: Technical interviewing ↗
   • Candidate write-up · 2025GeeksforGeeks: Microsoft SDE-I (1 year experienced) ↗
   • Candidate write-up · 2025GeeksforGeeks: Microsoft SDE-1 (Hyderabad) ↗
   • Candidate write-upProgramHelp: Microsoft SDE-II interview record ↗
4. 4

   CS fundamentals questions

   CS fundamentalsinside coding or manager rounds

   One report

   Not a standalone round in these reports. Operating-systems questions (threads, semaphores, page faults, memory leaks) followed coding problems for one Azure Networking candidate, and a different SDE-II account had database questions (SQL versus NoSQL, CAP, schema changes) in its manager round. Each is a single report.

   • operating systems
   • concurrency basics
   • databases and consistency

   Varies: Only the Azure Networking report had OS questions; the SDE-II account did not mention any.

   Practise for this round

   • FundamentalsOperating systems: 19 reported questionsmodel answers→
   • FundamentalsDatabase management systems: 18 reported questionsmodel answers→
   • FundamentalsComputer networks: 20 reported questionsmodel answers→
   • FundamentalsObject-oriented programming: 18 reported questionsmodel answers→

   What can be asked in a cs fundamentals round

   Questions on the subjects every engineer is expected to know: operating systems, databases, networks and object-oriented programming. Common for campus and early-career hiring.

   • Process vs thread, scheduling, deadlocks, virtual memory

     A process has its own address space, while threads in one process share memory, so threads are cheaper to create and switch but need synchronisation. A deadlock needs four conditions at once: mutual exclusion, hold and wait, no pre-emption and circular wait. Break any one, for example by taking locks in a fixed order. Virtual memory maps pages to frames, and a page fault loads a missing page from disk.

     Operating systems →
   • ACID, isolation levels, indexes, normalization, joins

     ACID means atomicity, consistency, isolation and durability. Isolation levels trade anomalies for speed: read committed prevents dirty reads, repeatable read also stops a row changing under you, and serializable behaves as if transactions ran one at a time. An index, usually a B-tree, speeds lookups at the cost of slower writes and more space. Normalisation removes duplicated facts, and joins put the pieces back.

     DBMS →
   • TCP vs UDP, the TCP handshake, HTTP and HTTPS, DNS, load balancing

     TCP is connection-oriented, ordered and reliable, using a three-way handshake of SYN, SYN-ACK and ACK. UDP sends datagrams without those guarantees, so it suits low latency uses such as voice or DNS queries. HTTPS is HTTP over TLS, which adds encryption and server identity. DNS resolves a name to an address through a chain of resolvers. A load balancer spreads requests across servers using a policy such as round robin or least connections.

     Networks →
   • OOP: polymorphism, abstraction, interfaces, SOLID

     Answer with a definition and a small example each time. Polymorphism means one interface with many behaviours, such as a Shape with an area method that each subclass implements. Abstraction hides detail behind a contract. An interface states what, a class states how. Mention that you prefer composition over inheritance when behaviour varies, and tie SOLID to one real choice from your own code.

   • How would you debug a slow query or a hung process

     Work from symptom to cause, measuring before changing. For a slow query, run the execution plan, look for a full scan, a missing or unused index, or a bad join order, and check row counts. For a hung process, check whether it uses CPU, is waiting on I/O or a lock, and read a thread dump or stack trace. State the order: reproduce, observe, form one hypothesis, change one thing.

     Databases →

   Prepare with: Book · Databases & RedisOperating systemsDBMSNetworks

   2 sources for this round

   • Candidate write-up · 2025GeeksforGeeks: Microsoft SDE-I (1 year experienced) ↗
   • Candidate write-upProgramHelp: Microsoft SDE-II interview record ↗
5. 5

   System design

   System design

   Several reports

   A design discussion. One report was a URL shortener (the interviewer helped with requirements and throughput estimates); another was an alarm service (single and repeating alarms, notifications, time zones, availability). Microsoft's page says interviews value breaking problems down, asking clarifying questions and planning before implementing.

   • requirements gathering
   • trade-offs
   • capacity estimation
   • communication

   Varies: Seen at SDE-1 (1.5 years) and SDE-II; the intern report does not mention one. In the Azure Networking report there was no separate design round, only a mostly low-level cache-design question in the manager round. Neither report gives the round length.

   Practise for this round

   • DesignDesign a distributed API rate limiter3 chapters · diagrams→
   • DesignDesign a real-time collaborative document editor4 chapters · diagrams→
   • DesignDesign a firmware-update delivery system4 chapters · diagrams→
   • LLDThread pool with a queue, a thread cap and idle releaseProducer-consumer, Worker pool, State · runnable code→
   • LLDLogger that reports finished processes in start order in constant timeDecorator, Observer, Strategy · runnable code→

   What can be asked in a system design round

   A 45 to 60 minute discussion of how to build a system at scale: requirements, numbers, APIs, data model, components, bottlenecks and trade-offs.

   • Short links, chat, news feed, notifications, search, rate limiting

     Use one repeatable path: clarify scope and scale, estimate load, define the API, sketch the data model, draw the main components, then probe bottlenecks. For short links, store a mapping from a generated short id to the long url, generate ids with a counter encoded in base 62, cache hot links, and note reads far outnumber writes. For chat, mention persistent connections and a store ordered per conversation.

     System design course →
   • Payments, wallets and ledgers where money must never be lost or doubled

     Money systems put correctness before speed. Use a double-entry ledger where entries are append-only and every transfer writes a debit and an equal credit in one transaction. Protect against doubled charges with an idempotency key stored with the result, so a retry returns the original outcome. For lost updates use a database transaction, and reconcile with the payment provider's records on a schedule.

     System design course →
   • Ride matching, maps and anything with live location

     Split the problem into location ingestion, a geospatial index and matching. Drivers send updates every few seconds to a write-optimised store, often in memory, keyed by a grid cell such as a geohash or S2 cell. To find nearby drivers, query the rider's cell and its neighbours, then rank by distance and estimated time. Say how you handle a stale location and a driver who accepts two rides.

     System design course →
   • File storage and sync, video streaming and content delivery

     For file sync, split files into chunks, hash each chunk and upload only chunks the server lacks, so a small edit transfers a small amount. Keep metadata in a database and chunks in object storage. For video, upload the original, transcode into several resolutions, store segments and serve them through a content delivery network with adaptive bitrate streaming, so the player switches quality as bandwidth changes.

     System design course →
   • Fundamentals: caching, sharding, replication, queues, consistency, failure handling

     Treat each as a tool with a cost. A cache cuts read latency but adds staleness and invalidation. Sharding spreads write load but makes cross-shard queries hard. Replication gives availability and read scale but introduces lag. Queues smooth spikes and decouple services but require idempotent consumers. For failures, name timeouts, retries with backoff and a fallback. State what you give up whenever you choose.

     System design course →
   • Back-of-envelope estimates and what they decide

     Estimates are there to choose a design, so finish each one with a decision. Use round numbers: a day has about 100,000 seconds, so 10 million requests a day is roughly 100 per second on average, with a peak of a few times that. Multiply object size by count for storage, and compare against one machine's capacity. If one database handles the load, say so and avoid sharding.

     Capacity estimation →

   Prepare with: Book · System designSystem design course

   3 sources for this round

   • OfficialMicrosoft Careers: Technical interviewing ↗
   • Candidate write-up · 2025GeeksforGeeks: Microsoft SDE-1 (Hyderabad) ↗
   • Candidate write-upProgramHelp: Microsoft SDE-II interview record ↗
6. 6

   Hiring manager round

   Hiring manager60 min

   Several reports

   Content differs across three reports: detailed questions on past work plus a mostly low-level cache design (Azure Networking SDE-I); about 30 minutes of database questions and about 30 of behavioural questions (SDE-II account); and a single hard coding problem with the engineering manager (Hyderabad SDE-1).

   • depth of past projects
   • technical judgement
   • collaboration
   • mentoring and influence

   Varies: The three reports share little beyond the round existing.

   Practise for this round

   • BookDraw the architecture of one of your applications.Resume grilling→
   • BookWhat is the worst technical decision you have made, and what did it cost?Resume grilling→
   • BookIf you have written standards for a team, give me three rules and why each exists.Resume grilling→

   What can be asked in a hiring manager round

   A conversation about your past work and how you would fit the team: depth on projects, ownership, decisions and trade-offs, sometimes a design problem.

   • Pick a project and go deep: why this design, what broke, what you would change

     Choose a project you can discuss at every layer. Explain the problem and who it served, the options you considered, why you chose one, what broke and what you would change now. Be clear which parts you did and which the team did. Admitting a flaw earns trust. Opening line: the main constraint was latency, so I chose a cache in front of the database, and I would now add an invalidation strategy.

     Resume grilling chapter →
   • A time you disagreed with a teammate or pushed back on a decision

     Use situation, task, action, result, and keep the disagreement about the work, never the person. The listener is checking that you can hold a view with evidence, listen, and commit once the decision is made. Describe what you proposed, the data or reasoning you used, how you reached agreement or accepted the other path, and what happened. Do not invent a story: use a real one, even a small one.

     Behavioural chapter →
   • How you prioritise when everything is urgent

     Show a method rather than a claim of being busy. Describe how you judge impact and deadline, ask who needs the result and when, and say no or renegotiate scope early when two things clash. Mention communicating the trade-off to stakeholders so nobody is surprised. A sentence you could adapt: I list what is blocking others first, then what has a fixed date, then what moves a metric.

     Behavioural chapter →
   • What you want from the next role and the team

     Answer honestly and tie it to what the role offers. Say what you want to learn or own next, such as larger systems, more ownership of design, or mentoring, and what kind of team helps you do it. Then ask what the team is trying to achieve this year and how the work is reviewed. The listener checks that your wishes match the job and that you have thought about it.

   Prepare with: Book · Resume grillingBook · Behavioural

   3 sources for this round

   • Candidate write-up · 2025GeeksforGeeks: Microsoft SDE-I (1 year experienced) ↗
   • Candidate write-upProgramHelp: Microsoft SDE-II interview record ↗
   • Candidate write-up · 2025GeeksforGeeks: Microsoft SDE-1 (Hyderabad) ↗
7. 7

   'AA' final round

   Data structures and algorithms

   One report

   One Hyderabad SDE-1 candidate reported a final 'AA' round that was a single medium coding problem, solved in one pass, with the interviewer testing many edge cases. No other source described this stage.

   • in-place array manipulation
   • edge-case testing
   • single-pass solutions

   Varies: Single-candidate report from one location; may not apply elsewhere.

   What can be asked in a data structures and algorithms round

   A live coding round of 45 to 60 minutes with one or two problems. You are judged on how you clarify, reason, code, test and state the complexity, not on the answer alone.

   • Arrays, strings and hashing: pairs, windows, frequency counts, prefix sums

     Name the pattern from the shape of the question. Pairs with a target use a hash map of seen values. A contiguous range with a condition uses a sliding window that grows on the right and shrinks on the left, so each element enters and leaves once, giving O(n). Range sums over many queries use a prefix sum array so each query is O(1) after O(n) setup. Count characters with a fixed-size array or map.

     DSA course →
   • Linked lists, stacks and queues, including design-a-structure problems such as an LRU cache

     For an LRU cache, combine a hash map from key to node with a doubly linked list ordered by recency. Get moves the node to the front, put inserts at the front, and when over capacity you remove the tail node and its map entry. Both operations are O(1), and you say why: the map finds the node, the list reorders it without a scan. For stacks, mention a monotonic stack for next greater element.

     DSA course →
   • Trees and BSTs, graphs (BFS, DFS, topological sort, shortest paths) and grids

     Decide the traversal from what is asked. Level by level or shortest path in an unweighted graph is BFS with a queue. Exploring all paths, components or cycles is DFS. A dependency order is topological sort: Kahn's algorithm repeatedly removes nodes with in-degree zero, and leftover nodes mean a cycle. Weighted shortest path with non-negative edges is Dijkstra with a heap, O((V + E) log V). On a BST, an in-order walk is sorted.

     DSA course →
   • Heaps and top-K, intervals, binary search on the answer

     For the K largest items keep a min-heap of size K: push each element and pop the smallest when the heap exceeds K, so the cost is O(n log K) and memory is O(K). For intervals, sort by start, then merge by comparing the next start with the current end. For binary search on the answer, define a yes or no check that is monotonic, such as can ship within D days, and search the capacity range.

     DSA course →
   • Dynamic programming from one dimension up to knapsack and string DP

     Define the state in a sentence, write the recurrence, fix the base cases, and decide the order of filling. Start with the recursive version with memoisation, then convert to a table. For 0/1 knapsack, dp[w] is the best value at capacity w, and in the one dimensional form you loop capacity downward so each item is used once. For string problems such as edit distance, the state is a pair of prefix lengths.

     DSA course →
   • Follow-ups: optimise space, handle streaming input, make it thread-safe

     Treat follow-ups as a chance to show depth, and answer in the same calm order each time. To save space, ask which previous rows or values the recurrence actually reads and keep only those. For streaming input, say what summary you can keep, such as a heap of size K or a running count. For thread safety, name the shared state, guard it with a lock, and keep the critical section short.

   Prepare with: Book · DSA roundDSA course

   1 source for this round

   • Candidate write-up · 2025GeeksforGeeks: Microsoft SDE-1 (Hyderabad) ↗
8. 8

   Offer

   HR and offer

   Several reports

   Microsoft's page says the recruiter shares the timeline for next steps after interviews, then the recruiting team emails offer documents to review and sign, and after acceptance confirms your start date and pre-hire steps. One candidate called HR about two days after the final round and was told they were selected; another said the offer came quickly.

   • offer paperwork
   • start date and pre-hire steps

   Practise for this round

   • BookWhat each headline number actually pays youHR & the number→
   • BookWhat band should you expect from each type of company?HR & the number→
   • BookWhat are your salary expectations?HR & the number→

   What can be asked in a hr and offer round

   The closing conversation: motivation, expectations, notice period, compensation and how the offer is structured. Prepared answers and a clear number help here.

   • Current and expected compensation, and how to answer without boxing yourself in

     Be honest and avoid giving a single number too early. Share your current pay only if you are comfortable, and make clear what is fixed and what is variable. For expectations, say you are flexible for the right role, and offer a researched range based on level and market. If pushed, state a figure you can justify. Never state a number you cannot support, because offers are often checked.

     HR and the number chapter →
   • Notice period, joining date and relocation

     Give the facts exactly as they are in your contract. State the notice period, whether early release or a buy-out is truly possible, and the earliest honest joining date. Do not promise a date your employer has not agreed to. For relocation, say whether you can move, how soon, and whether you would need support. Clear, early information helps the recruiter plan and shows you are reliable.

     HR and the number chapter →
   • Why you are leaving and what you are looking for

     Keep it positive and forward looking. Talk about what you want more of, such as larger scale, ownership or a stronger team, rather than criticising your current employer. The listener checks that you will not leave this job for the same reason. Opening line: I have learned a lot in the current role, and I now want to work on problems at a bigger scale.

   • Levels, equity and how the offer is built

     Ask for the structure rather than only the total. Find out the level and title, base salary, bonus and whether it is guaranteed, equity amount, vesting schedule and cliff, joining bonus and any clawback. Compare offers on a yearly total with the same assumptions. If equity is in a private company, ask how it is valued and what happens on leaving. Asking calmly is normal and expected.

     Levels and equity chapter →

   Prepare with: Book · HR & the numberBook · Levels & equity

   3 sources for this round

   • OfficialMicrosoft Careers: How we hire ↗
   • Candidate write-up · 2025GeeksforGeeks: Microsoft SDE-I (1 year experienced) ↗
   • Candidate write-upProgramHelp: Microsoft SDE-II interview record ↗

What we could not verify. Microsoft's interview-tips page was a 404 and the other official pages give no round names or levels. Glassdoor and LeetCode were unreadable. The ProgramHelp post has no stated year and is an interview-help vendor. Most candidate evidence is India SDE-1/SDE-II; US new-grad loops and the behavioural round as a separate stage were not found. Timeline evidence is thin.