Microsoft SDE-2 Interview Experience

I recently interviewed for a Microsoft SDE-2 position as part of a hiring drive conducted that day. It was for windows team so sharing my experience and the overall process.

Round 1 — DSA

I was asked two coding questions.

The first one was a variation of Longest Repeating Character Replacement. We discussed both the brute-force and optimal approaches, and I was able to solve it.

The second one was a medium-level tree traversal problem. I don't remember the exact question, but I was able to solve that as well.

Apart from these, we also had some discussion around basic DSA concepts during the round.

Round 2 — LLD (AI-assisted)

I was asked to design a notification system for Windows, where different applications can generate and display notifications.

This round was a little different because the interviewer asked me to use AI during the interview.

There were a few parts of the design where I was not completely sure about the best approach. I discussed my thought process with the interviewer first and then used AI to explore possible alternatives.

The interviewer seemed more interested in how I was framing my prompts, refining them, and evaluating the response instead of just using whatever AI suggested.

It was my first time giving an AI-assisted LLD round, and overall it went well.

Round 3 — HLD

The question was around proximity search.

The interviewer asked how I would find restaurants within a 10 km radius for a food delivery use case.

We discussed the design in detail, and there were multiple follow-up questions as the problem expanded. Towards the end, I was also asked to code part of the approach we had discussed.

Hiring Process Paused

After Round 3, my hiring process got paused. I followed up with HR multiple times regarding the next round.

At one point, the interview was scheduled, but it was later cancelled because the hiring manager was unavailable. After a few more follow-ups, I was informed that the position had been closed.She mentioned if later in future , they will be hiring for this position they will contact me.

I thought that was the end of the process.

However, almost two months later, another HR contacted me for a different team. They had gone through my previous interview feedback and were interested in moving ahead with my profile.

I was asked to give two more rounds.

Round 4 — OS and C++

This round was mostly based on my resume and previous experience.

There were a lot of questions around Operating Systems, C++, low-level concepts, and the work I had mentioned on my resume.

One of the main questions was how I would implement the Linux cp command. From there, the discussion went quite deep into OS and C++ concepts.

This round was a bit challenging for me, but overall it went okay.

Round 5 — Hiring Manager Round

This round was mainly around my resume, achievements, and previous work.

The interviewer asked detailed questions about my projects, technical decisions, individual contributions, challenges I faced, and the impact of my work.

It was more of a detailed discussion rather than a typical question-answer round, and the interviewer was quite friendly throughout.

Later on next day , HR gave me offer. All the interviewers were very friendly. I almost lost hope but with gods grace made it to the end.