Software Engineer applicants have rated the interview process at Microsoft with 3.2 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 64% positive. To compare, the company-average is 66.3% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Software Engineer roles take an average of 29 days to get hired, when considering 1,705 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 Software Engineer according to 1,705 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 27%
Phone interview: 23%
Skills test: 15%
Presentation: 11%
Background check: 6%
Personality test: 5%
Group panel interview: 5%
IQ intelligence test: 4%
Drug test: 3%
Other: 2%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied through college or university. I interviewed at Microsoft (New York, NY) in Jan 2019
Interview
I'll start by saying the process was terrible without any personal contact point. all of the processes were automated and in the end, it resulted in me being in Seattle without anyone to get in touch with. The interview was for a new graduate after MS degree, it was composed of a face to face with a college recruiter and after that an onsite interview in Seattle.
The onsite went very well and after about a month I got an email for getting to the next stage and coming to an onsite. Everything was scheduled and 3 days of my time was dedicated to this task (excluding the preparation and traveling 6 hours each way from NY to Seattle). No one has contacted me while in Seattle or after coming back home. After multiple emails and phone calls on my end, I've got an email saying there was an error and we should reschedule. No one has contacted me afterward even after replying to those emails. I had interviews with all of the major tech companies including Google, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook, been to many onsite interviews but I have never experienced this weird treatment. I believe it was a communication problem but to me, it felt like a big waste of my time and I wouldn't wish anyone to pass the experience I had. Do yourself a favor and find a company who cares, luckily I got to a much better company who values me and my time.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
There was a recursion question asking to find the way out of a given 2X2 array maze. you're given with the start and end point.
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.