I applied through university. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft
Interview
I started with an on campus technical interview, and then I was invited out to Seattle to complete 5 consecutive technical interviews. I felt like they were only interested in testing me on the spot, I definitely suffer under high pressure situations like that. I didn’t feel that this was a good environment to show what I can do code wise, and they barely asked me questions about extensive industry experience. They also really didn’t care to get to know me at all.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
On campus, I was asked to solve a simple string manipulation problem and a text search problem.
In Seattle, I had 5 back to back technicals. This was exhausting, and much higher pressure as you have several engineers watching you work. I was asked several difficult graph search problems, difficult sorting problems, and one weird linked-list dictionary problem.
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.