I applied through an employee referral. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Microsoft (Redmond, WA) in Jan 2009
Interview
I worked as a contractor at Microsoft in 1999 and was invited to interview for a full-time job by the hiring manager, who was on the team I was working for. A new project had been created and allocated headcount. Although I was told that they wouldn't have offered an interview if they weren't confident that I'd get hired, I still had to go through the full interview process and loop.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Years ago, brain teasers were more in fashion in Microsoft interviews (much less so now). I did get asked to explain how the internet worked to someone's grandmother (with a great deal of probing into technical details). One interviewer asked me to explain what a B-tree was, but it was pretty clear that they didn't know. Another interviewer asked me to come up with as many possible techniques for measuring the height of a building with a 12" ruler.
I applied online. I interviewed at Microsoft (Hyderabad) in Jan 2026
Interview
Not a great experience with interviews taking 1 month to complete. Despite ongoing communication, the role did not move forward, reportedly due to approval constraints. The overall experience highlights a gap in aligning internal approvals before progressing candidates to advanced stages.
Clearer communication and better alignment internally would improve the candidate experience
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Questions on Project Experience and Thought process
The interview process is grueling and I get why people do it but its more awareness, know that you'll spend an entire day and meet several people, so it's important to be mentally and physically prepared. Eat a good breakfast but not heavy stay hydrated. This was just for a PM role it's their standard process I imagine executive level is another thing altogether
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Tell me about a time you didn't agree with someone who was a stakeholder on your project and how did you handle that?
Very smooth, thoughtful interview process. It showed the recruiter really cared what I had to contribute and asked great followup clarifying questions. Would definitely recommend everyone try an interview with them even if it doesn't pan out.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Name one project that you have worked on and tell us the outcomes?
