I applied through university. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft in Oct 2016
Interview
I had phone interview with Microsoft after being recommended by a representative at the career fair at my school. The reception was really bad on the recruiter's end, which made the conversation a bit difficult. She asked general questions about why I chose CS, and I thought I did a pretty good job of answering, but never heard back, and didn't even get a response to my follow up email.
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.