Software Engineer applicants have rated the interview process at Microsoft with 4 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 50% positive. To compare, the company-average is 68.2% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Microsoft (Dublín, Dublín) in Feb 2017
Interview
Local campus interview. Basic information + case-scenarios questions about collaboration mostly.
On-site interview. 4 rounds of 45 min each. Every round consisted of an introduction of the interviewer, a few personal questions, programming challenges, testing questions. In between interviews, us interviewees had a chance to talk and get some refreshments. Everyone was kind, and overall I got a good impression.
In a two-dimensional array, containing 0s and 1s, find the largest coherent group of 1s (two 1s are coherent if they are placed next to each other in a direction N, E, S, or W).
I applied through college or university. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Microsoft (Redmond, WA) in Feb 2017
Interview
I interviewed with Microsoft as a Ph.D. graduate.
Initial on campus screening. After that I am invited to onsite.
Onsite Interview:
It was a nice experience. I interviewed with managers and with a director. I got 3 technical questions and one Ph.D. research discussion (after lunch with lunch interviewer) and one resume/background/personality interview. It was unique to meet people with 10 to over 30 years of experience. Interviewing with experienced/expert engineers is a plus I guess. They know what to ask and what to look for in answers. The questions were easy but vague sometimes. Asking questions and verifying your understanding seemed to me a big plus. Overall it was one of the best interview experiences I had.
I applied through college or university. I interviewed at Microsoft (Boston, MA) in Nov 2016
Interview
The interview was very rushed as it was only 45 minutes. Most of the questions were behavioral, that left little time for technical. So, I didn't have time to think through the technical questions. The interviewer was intimidating.