I applied online. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Microsoft (Río de Janeiro) in Jan 2009
Interview
I was called for a group interview by email. The interview process was broken up into three different parts. The first was a description of what the inters would do if they got the job. The second was a group dynamic which required us to find a software solutiona real world IT problem. The third, they asked us to write a composition on why they should hire me.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The group dynamic was the most challenging part of the interview process, because they were looking for things that probably weren't so clear at the moment to me.
It was quite straigthtforward.
Interviewer was very friendly.
Asked about questions regarding datastructure.
Also had some algorithmic questions regarding single linked list.
Asked to write more efficient algorithm for find the n th element of a singly linked list.
Also asked which product of microsoft I wished to make some changes and why?
He also explained about different teams in microsoft.
Interview lasts for about 30mins.
I was not ready to relocate
I applied through college or university. The process took 2 days. I interviewed at Microsoft (Indore) in Jan 2012
Interview
We first came to know that Microsoft is coming to our campus through our placement cell. They were offering three intern positions: Software Development Engineer (SDE), Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) and Software Management Engineer (SME). The first round was a written test. It included questions on arrays and strings (reverse the words in a string, swap an array in a given way), a few puzzles. We were also asked to write test cases for Excel and a couple of management related questions were thrown in.
After the written test, there were three interviews, all one-on-one. In the first round, candidates were asked about basic algorithms and data structures(trees, linked list manipulation). A few puzzles were also asked. I was also asked about Microsoft's products and services. (Which ones can you recall? Which one do you like most?) The second round was HR based questions (family background, ethics, scholing, college, etc.). The third round was again HR based - Strengths, weaknesses, why Microsoft.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
"If you had to house the entire Microsoft India operations into ONE building, how would you design it? Which parameters will you take into account?"