Current position:
I am currently working as SDE-1 at Flipkart, with 1.5 years of experience.

Application process:
I applied for the SWE role on Microsoft careers site through referral. After a week, I got a call from HR asking for availability for online test ( I was so excited after listening to this, as I did not get a call from Microsoft HR before this anytime, like my application was directly rejected from the career portal itself. I had applied 20+ times(some with referral, some without referral) on career portal ).

Round 1: Online coding test
There were 2 coding questions and the time limit was 90 mins. One of the question revolved around strings ( brute-force solution was accepted), and the other was on graph based DFS, which was a little tricky and took me some time to solve this. I would rate the difficulty of questions as Medium-Hard. I was able to complete both the questions.

After a day, I was informed that I have cleared the coding round and was asked for availability for onsite rounds. After a week my onsite rounds took place.

Round 2: Coding round
This round was of 45 mins, where I was asked a medium level coding question. Initially, I was stuck but then interviewer gave a hint, and I was able to come up with the approach, and was finally able to code the solution. The interviewer also discussed about how I would test the code, what were the test cases that I would take into account, and how I would improve the code quality. The interviewer was very helpful and the interview was very interactive. Initially, I asked some clarifications for the question, and only then started to think of the approach. The interviewer was quite impressed on how I was approaching the question and keeping the interview interactive by speaking out loud.

Round 3: Coding round
This round was of 60 mins, where I was asked 3 coding questions. This consisted of medium-hard questions. Initially, I was asked one of the question, and then was asked the variation of the same question. I was able to come up with the approach of both the questions and was able to code it. The interviewer was impressed as I had given an approach that the interviewer wasn't expecting and the interviewer mentioned that he had never thought that the problem could be solved that way. Since we had more time left, he gave me another question, and I was able to come up with approach, but was facing some issue while coding. The interviewer hinted me on what I might be missing and I was able to debug it. The round was extended by 10 mins, as it took me some time in debugging and finally provide a working code. The interviewer told that keep up the same momentum and he was very impressed. This boosted my confidence to the next level :).

Since, my both the interview results were positive, I was directly moved to AA(As Appropriate) / Hiring Manager round.

Round 4: AA round
This round took after a week as per the availability of HM. This round only consisted of the project discussions, the challenges faced, and some questions like: Why Microsoft? . I was asked some questions based on my projects and was able to answer all of them.

After a day, I was told that I was selected :).
It was like a dream come true moment for me and I shouted so loudly!!

After a day, I was asked to submit some documents. I received the offer letter after 2 weeks, as the holiday season was going on and some approvals took time. But usually it takes 1 week for the offer letter.

Some tips for preparation:

• Solve coding questions consistently from any coding platform that you are comfortable in. Usually after the placement we tend to leave coding, but it takes a lot of time to start coding again.
• Don't start coding 3-4 months before giving interviews, it takes time for cracking interviews and hence be consistent :).
• Never take Hiring Manager rounds lightly, dedicate some time for preparation of that round. Prepare answers in advance and practice in front of someone or mirror.
• Answer everything confidently.
• I was asked questions on various topics like DP, greedy, linked list, graphs, arrays, strings. Although, I don't remember the exact questions, but cover all the data structures and algorithms.
• Be comfortable in solving the coding questions, the way you like. Like, I did not give any coding contests on Leetcode, Codechef, Codeforces. If you like practising by giving contests, then you can go that way, but its not compulsary if you are not comfortable. Practise ample questions on DS-Algo, and you should be good.
• Also, I did not give any mock interviews, I used to practise by giving actual interviews. Like I faced a lot of rejections before in Amazon, Sharechat, Goldman Sachs, Supr Daily (Swiggy), Paypal, some of the startups. But I learned through all and was able to apply my learnings in the coming interviews where finally I was selected and it was like a dream come true.

One offer is all you need. All things will fall into place at right time! Till then, keep hustling :)