The OA was two Leetcode Medium questions, although the difficulty seemed to vary from Easy to Medium. Optimisation was critical to pass the tests. I think it was first come first serve.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Combinations of binary digits, modifying strings in a certain manner.
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft (Dublin, Dublin) in Nov 2015
Interview
There were two stages, first was a Skype call with a developer from the Dublin office. Consisted of technical discussions about testing, design and one coding question with walk through of code once it was written. There was some internet issues and call had to be rescheduled developer was very nice about this.
The second stage was a half day interview panel with one developer/manager for a round of 35-40 minutes each, there was 5 people doing this at the same time as me so we just switched interviews for the next round. There was 4 -5 rounds of this. This started at 8:30 am in their Dublin office so they could have time to go through everyone. Interviews arrived late, had to write my name down for receptionist to print name tag for me. They got my first name right but last name was just a jumble of letters, have a pretty normal Irish name so they must not have been able to read my writing. Each of the interviews started with talking about past internships I did, the role I had in them and development I did as part of them. The questions asked were normal for the most part.
There was some stand out moments though:
- asked an interview what they likes/enjoyed about the time at work at Microsoft, they replied that it was different for every one and proceeded to skip it.
- one of the interviews forgot my name (remember name tag was on), same interviewer had to go to the toilet as soon as the round began, lost interview time with this. Started a question off with if you where a game developer (wasn't and job had nothing to do with games).
- HR person for the day, that apparently did seven rounds of interviews to get their job, had no idea that I was still attending college and had to go there after interview.
-second interview was the only one to mention messed up name tag.
-got a "free" hoodie out of a mess of a day, missed a two hour lecture for nothing really that day.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Reverse a linked list, given a number return the number of ones in it binary value, create a C function to copy a string from one variable to another, given a grid (array) place a flag at random slots making sure there is an even but random distribution between slots.
Short interview over the phone about the neurodiversity hiring program. The interviewer was very nice and the program is tailored to neurodiverse individuals. Adjustments allowed:
-Longer breaks between interviews.
-Don't have to tell your manager or anyone else about your neurodiverse nature.
-Don't have to prove your neurodiversity.
Generally, easy questions, but really depends on your interviewer. Format is 3 separate technical interviews. I had 1 interview where I was made to use a language I have never used before which was unlucky, but i think this is a rare case.