Interview Experince at Microsoft

Hope this note helps my juniors and the fellow MSPs who are going to appear for the interviews in the first week of 2011.First and foremost whether you get selected or not an interview experience In Microsoft is definitely worth remembering – its an outta world experience coding in a white board at a persons office . On 22nd Dec 2011 – I went to IDC . there were around 45-50 people . All of them had cleared the written tests . they were from colleges like VIT, KIT, DCE, Amity , NIT Warangal,etc . On the basis of the written tests I guess we were separated into 2 groups . 15 of us had personal one-to-one interviews schedeuled the rest of them were subjected to group interviews . I was in the first group . We were led to a conference hall where we were seated . Turn by turn few employees were coming to that room and calling the candidates name . the interviews were taking place at their individual office’s . First interview : A young looking guy wearing a black tee and jeans called me Interviewer : hie , I am shomik. I will be interviewing u today . Want some coffee before we get get started. Me: No, I ma ok . Interviewer : tell Me about ur self ? ( I replied talked about my school college , projects , y I like coding) Interviewer : what about ur hobbies ? ( I told him watching cricket , music , blogging ) Interviewer : u listen to Mettalica ? ( I replied Nope I ma not much in metal ) He pointed at his black tee and said it was his fav band . Interviewer : u no sorting ? ( me : yes) Interviewer : y is it required ? name few methods? What is internal and external sorting ? (Me I replied ll thye 3 questions very well) Interviewer : Dun call me ‘sir’ . call me shomik . Now tell me which is the most efficient sorting among the ones u mentioned ? Interviewer : Given 2 sorted arrays .Merge them at o(n) time ? Interviewer : u no link list right ( I said yes) Interviewer : reverse a link list without using extra space? How would u detect a loop in a link list ? how would u find where the loop has started ? (I replied all of them and wrote the codes too ) Interviewer : how would u add 2 polynomials using link list ? Interviewer : construct a Hash function for mapping all the characters( ASCII 1-128) . How would u detect the frequency of each character in a string using this function ? ( I answered all these) He was pleased . he replied . Interviewer : u don’t look like a geek u no that .u look like the pubbing sort of guy but ur base is pretty good . Interviewer : ok tell me one area u are weak on and tell me frankly (I said OS ) Interviewer : Ur fav Microsft product ? (i said Ms word) c thanks for ur time arka . !! TOTAL Interview time 1 hour Then I got a break of 10 mins The second interviewer was a middle aged serious looking lady Interviewer: tell me about ur self ? your final year project ? which platform u used ? etc etc Interviewer : can u solve this problem Input: 0, 8, 4, 12, 2, 10, 6, 14, 1, 9, 5, 13, 3, 11, 7, 15 a longest increasing subsequence is 0, 2, 6, 9, 13, 15. Me : told her the algo coded on white board Interviewer : what is tree? Few uses of them ? code to print the data in the leaf nodes of a tree Interviewer : What is AVL tree? Y it is used ? Write a code to balance an unbalanced AVL tree ? Interviewer : generate a tic toe game ? (me did this) Implement it in such a way that the computer never loses (me couldn’t do it ) Interviewer : Write the code for Finding all possible unique Paths in a Forest ? (tried it but wasn’t fully successful ) Interviewer : Display all the branches of a tree as separate link lists ? Interviewer :Enter a paragraph find the max occurring character and its frequency (DO NOT USE MOR THAN O(n) time ie 1 for loop only) Me:did it it was easy Interviewer :ALgo of Depth first and Breadth first serch . DURATIOn : 1 hr 20 Mins it was my longest interview for the day INTERVIEW 3 Interviewer : some intro asked about compilers assemblers ,the step by step compiling process etc Interviewer : I have a file of n lines ( I dunt no what N is ) I want to print the last 3 lines . how ? Interviewer : what is memory binding ? Interviewer : DMA , asked me about semaphores , write algo for semaphores Interviewer : asked me about file systems . FAT32 , NTFs (could only tell the full forms .) then it was over Duration : 20 Mins STAY TUNED FOR THE MSIT QUSTIONS --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- MSIT I was assigned a recruiter . Remember recruiter is your best friend he will decide which people are gonna interview you so be frank with him . tell him about area of strengths and weakness. You will be asked to fill up a form in which you have to select the positions for which you want to apply.You can apply for ANYONE or BOTH . 1.SDET and SDE - requires knowledge of testing , test cases , programming logic ,product features 2 Service Engineer –requires knowledge of DBMS , networking , deployment of Softwares . You will be offered 3 to 4 interviews .your selection or rejection would depend upon ALL these interviews. I asked him (my recruiter) what whether applying to both would mean I have extra chance . My recruiter advised me Not to apply for “Service engineer “ Post as I MIGHT (might not also) get 1 interview with the Service management team and if it dint go well it would jeopardize my Chances for the SDE and SDET post as well . And also I am not very good in database .they ask a lot of question’s from Microsoft access OLEB connections data objects , the recruiter told me that . So me along with the candidates only applied for SDET and SDE post . Interview 4 (first of MSIT) ( 45 Mins) Interviewer : Hie I am shashk . where are you from ? Interviewer : Watched MI 4 ? ( I replied no ) Interviewer : let me give a puzzle ull enjoy solving it .4 man have to cross a bridge only 2 at a time . they have I torch with them and the torch must be carried by any pair or single person while crossing the bridge . tom cruise being the super hero takes 1 min, the other 2 guys take 2 min and 5 mins .finally Anil kapoor takes 10 mins . there is a Time Bomb fixed which will go off in 17 mins .Divide a way so that all 4 of them crosses .( TOOK A Hell lot of a time for me to solve this ) Interviewer : What are the next three numbers in this series? 4, 6, 12, 18, 30, 42, 60, 72, 102, 108, ?, ?, ? (DID This it was Easy) Interviewer: Every man in a village of 100 married couples has cheated on his wife. Every wife in the village instantly knows when a man other than her husband has cheated, but does not know when her own husband has. The village has a law that does not allow for adultery. Any wife who can prove that her husband is unfaithful must kill him that very day. The women of the village would never disobey this law. One day, the queen of the village visits and announces that at least one husband has been unfaithful. What happens? ME : assemble all the women in a place and all the husbands also . the women who doesn’t not see any culprit ,her husband is the culprit. (while answering this question I inadvertently used the word “sex” ones or twice . the interviwer told me to use the Word “sleep” instead :P ) Interviewer: how would you test a web browser ? Interviewer: design a Spice rack for the Blind . ( was prepared for this question from beginning .saw it I geek for geeks) Interviewer: Find the greater of the 2 numbers in 1 step without using if or any sort of comparison (me : couldn’t do this ). Interviewer: Add 2 numbers without using “+” sign .(me : did this using bit manipulation ) Interviewer: Design test cases for a Aero plane navigation Navigation system . (couldn’t answer this well) Interviewer: find whther a number is a Power of 2 in constant time o(1) . (again a bit manipulation program) Interviewer: Given a chance between development and testing which would u prefer . (me :testing ..) Interviewer:What are enumerations on Object oriented programming ( Me : sir I don’t know ) Interviewer: Can you write c # code . (Me : no but I can learn as it is very similar to java ) Interviewer: Any questions for me . (Me : No sir ) Interview 5 (2nd for MSIT ) ( 50 Mins) Interviewer: Hie I was not actually prepared for this interview . Interviewer: show me ur resume . (started asking qustions from it ) I had written subject of interest as Cloud . so he asked few questions from that . Interviewer: advantage of cloud. In a country like India where bandwidth is low can u suggest me some other solution other than cloud . (me I coudnt answer this one ) Interviewer: Do you no what is L value R Value in programming ? ( Me : no sir ) Interviewer: Okii . design an ATm for me and write what features you will implement there ? Interviewer: Now design atleast 3 test cases where your system will fail . (me : did it ) Interviewer: suppose I am running out of time which model of software development I should use ( Me : Rad Model . went on to describe it ) Interviewer: any drawbacks of this Model ( Me : told him ) Interviewer: design a system for the allocation of bandwidth in a college WIFI . How would the system react in case of high stress condition . suppose the director and a student logs into his account Implement a feature such that the director will get the prority and higher speed while browsing . (Me : I used labels here numbered from 1 to 7 . 7 being of higesht prority . whenever a request come s the label is checked if a lower prority user is using the wifi he is immediately premted to make space for the higher prority browser . etc etc download limiter , high traffic algorithm . designed many features ) Interviewer: How would you divide the above system into Modules for separate engineers to code ? Interviewer: If you had to add 2 new features to the website Rapidshare .com what would they be ? Interviewer: design the UI of a Dvd player . Then he asked me some basic queries , Interviewer: ok I am done with . You seem tired . have a coffee . We chatted and walked till the coffee enclosure . then he went to his office . I gave a call to my recruiter to arrange for the next interview . INTERVIEW 6 : (3rd for MSIT) ( 1 hour ) Interviewer: where are you from arka ? how did you come ? Tell me about your self . Interviewer: See I have designed a New aircraft and before using it for carry passengers I have given you the contract for testing it and ensuring thorough safety of the passengers . How would you do that .? (Me : told him about various measures I will take , engine safety , presuurized cabins .. etc etc ) Interviewer: write a program which will take 10 characters and find the most occurring character . I did ( he gave the input AAddam and said what will be the out put . I had not taken capital and small into account so the program would have given d .) Interviewer: correct the code . ( me : this time I was fully correct ) Interviewer: Now break the code . give an Input so that the program wont give right out output . Me: ( I thought for long and finaaly I gave a string of spaces ) Interviewer:One new feature you would like to see in Visual studio 2011 . ( coudnt answer this one ) Interviewer: what are break points in code . ( Me coudnt answer this one also) Interviewer: have you seen the UI of windows phone 7 ? ( Me : yes) Interviewer: Do you like it ? (Me : No sir , But it’s a personal Opinion ) Interviewer: Which is the Best Phone UI you have seen ? ( Me : sir I phone 4 without doubt ) Interviewer: I agree with you but we are catching up pretty fast. Interviewer: Suppose we have to out do Apple in the Ipod Market and you are told to design the features of a New Ipod like device .what features would u implement ? he gave me a pen and led me to the white board to draw it . (Me: I answered this pretty well . He seemed impressed finally ) Interviewer: thank you arka INTERVIEW 7 ( 30 Mins) Just when I thought the interview was over . My recruiter told me the Director of MSIT wanted to interview one of the candidates . there were only 3 candidates that time ( ALL MSPS). since the other were already in interviews he took me to a big cabin . he first went inside I was standing at the door . he came out took me in with Him introduced me to him and left . the interviewer was a old man late 50’s I guess . Interviewer: So did you like the campus ?(Me :yes sir ) Interviewer: We Dont have a dress code here .do you no y? ( Me : no) He went on to tell how MSIT is like a small family how the MSITians very close to each other . the work culture there etc etc I was Damn tired and pretty nervous also .So I listened patiently Interviewer: If not Microsoft then . ( Me : I am planning to Do Ms from USA , then again I will try in Microsoft ) Interviewer: you seem very passionate about Microsoft . y is it so . ( I went on to tell him how windows 95 start screen is etched in my childhood memories . went on to talk about Bill gates , his charity how he as a human being inspired me , den the famous video of Steve Ballmer shouting developer developer” ) Interviewer: (He pointed me to one of the photos on the wall there were 3 people in it . One was the interviewer , then standing beside was a very young steve ball mer , and the third person I could not recognize .) Can u recognize the 3 persons in the picture ? I couldn’t recognize the third one . he told me about it . Interviewer: Suppose I told you to Move Mount Everest how would u do ? (Me : Sir I would stand in front of it and move back wards . then the Mountain will move relative to me ) Interviewer: Suppose you are in a team . 2 of your members are constantly failing behind in their deadlines what would you do ? Interviewer: which languages you are competent in ? write a program to accept a string and print it in all these languages . Interviewer: how were your earlier interviews ( Me : quite good sir ) Interviewer: whats your age ? ( Me:21 Sir) Interviewer: I joined Ms when I was 30 .you are quite young and have a long way to go . don’t be disappointed if you cant make it this time . And Best of luck for your future ventures . IF I REMEMBER ANY MORE QUESTIONS I WILL ADD THEM . IF YOU THINK THIS WAS OF HELP TO YOU PLEASE LEAVE A ONE LINE COMMENT . iT TOOK ME A LOT OF TIME TO TYPE ALL THESE . BEST OF LUCK GUYS !!!! HOPE THIS TIME MANY MSPS MAKE IT THROUGH