Technical interview: How would you count the number of 1's in an integer. The question was not as simple as this. The question was not as simple as this. Lot of follow-up questions on how I would test this function, edge cases, different types of binary representations etc.
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This is unofficial, largely anecdote-based advice on getting hired for Explore/Software Engineering/PM roles at Microsoft. This doc mostly covers internship information, but some content (contacting recruiters, interview questions, timeline) may also apply to new grads looking to become a full time employee (FTE.)
I was an explorer intern in the summer of 2016, a SWE intern in the summers of 2017 and 2018, and started full-time as a software engineer in September 2019.
Disclaimer
Again: I'm not a Microsoft recruiter, I can't get you hired here, and none of this advice is official. These are my own reflections based on personal experience. I'm putting this right at the top and reiterating it so I don't have to say 'my personal opinion is...' in every sentence.
Other helpful resources
Getting Noticed/Contact Information
If you were referred, make sure you apply online also. The application is basically only a resume upload: it takes literally about 5-10 minutes. There's no reason not to fill it out when it could massively expedite your interview and hiring process (potentially gets you noticed faster.)
Statistics
From online application through to hire stage, the acceptance rate for Internship and New Grad roles is approximately 1-2%. The probability of cold applying online to getting a phone screen is about 10%. The probability of making it past the phone screen to final loop interviews is about 40%. The probability of receiving an offer from the final loop stage is around 50%.
Interview Process
So you've been contacted for an interview. Congrats! This process begins in one of two ways: first with either a phone screen or a on-school-campus interview. Phone screens are typically non-technical or close-to-non-technical 30 minute conversations with a recruiter. See the section below for a sampling of questions. You should expect on-school-campus interviews to be more technical despite being about the same amount of time. This appears to be because of a bug in the recruiting system where on-school-campus interviewers are often SWE FTEs from that school who may be lacking comprehensive interview training. Wherever possible, I highly recommend going the general phone screen route (ESPECIALLY for Explore and/or Garage candidates, who may not be able to answer SWE Intern technical questions yet), which are usually conducted by recruiters (and therefore questions are usually behavioral or only conceptually technical--basically anything that a recruiter can memorize is fair game.) In the case of on-school-campus interviews, candidates are typically given a Leetcode Medium-equivalent question to whiteboard or to hand-in for future evaluation. It appears as though this is done mostly at target schools and/or where there are large volumes of qualified candidates to sort through in short amounts of time (big state schools, etc).
Scheduling
I recommend you schedule your phone screen no later than the third week of October, and fly-out final rounds to be completed no later than the first week of November. This advice is especially emphasized for candidates interviewing for any position BUT SWE Intern. For example, there are only ~300 Explorer spots, while there are nearly 1.7-2k SWE Intern spots. Explorer/Garage/PM/Busiess/etc spots go very quickly; I've seen PLENTY of top students at top schools do exceptionally well in interviews only to be turned away because they waited until December to complete the rounds... and all the spots got taken out from under them in the meantime.
Recruiters
Recruiters are your biggest ally in the hiring process. They're also exceptionally busy (and probably very stressed.) When emailing, put the point of your email in the first sentence -- then go into background detail if needed, just don't hide the punchline in the fifth paragraph of your email. It is acceptable to email your recruiter about once every two weeks. Please do not bug them excessively.
Not getting a response from your recruiter despite repeated emails? Considering marking your email hi-pri (this is a last resort), and ask someone to confirm that the recruiter you've been contacting is still assigned to your school. Sometimes recruiters are moved around without notice.
More than anything, be gracious through this process and respect all recruiters' time.
Interview Question Examples
Assume any questions asked for Explore are also fair game for SWE/etc, since they are in theory 'easier'.
Phone Screen round
Explore - PM-y questions (final rounds)Cracking the PM Interview is overdoing it, but good prep for future PM candidates (you will need to re-interview from Explore to be considered for a return offer in a PM role).
Explore - Dev questions (final rounds)Cracking the Coding Interview is likely overdoing it, but good prep for future interviews elsewhere (note that Explorers interested in returning as a SWE Intern within the same team do not need to re-interview).
SWE Intern questions (final rounds)Cracking the Coding Interview is good prep. Leetcode Hard is over-doing it.
Team Placement (Internships)
Team placement works similarly to Google and Facebook in that you do not (typically-- maybe 99% of the time) have the option of interviewing for a specific team; you interview at the company, for a role. You can indicate your choices to your recruiter should you receive an offer (whether or not those choices will make any impact is another story. The tl;dr is that it probably will not). In my experience, most of the people I've known who accepted their offers ended up on teams related to the teams their interviewers are on (same 'group' within Microsoft--for instance, SQL Server and COSMOS DB are within the same group but are not the same exact team). This has not held true in all cases, however.
When you list team preferences, you should list realistic choices for your best chance at being happy with your placement (and keep in mind that stating preferences may make no impact at all. You may be a front-end engineer and get placed on SQL Server; you may be heavy back-end and get placed on PowerPoint UI. It's happened, and with relative frequency). Recruiters will likely reference your list for placement if they can, but again, you may or may not get your exact choices: and the more unrealistic you are, the higher the likelihood you get put somewhere unrelated. This means you should not list XBox, HoloLens, or Microsoft Research teams (unless you are a Research Intern--which is the PhD internship--for the latter). Everyone wants those teams, so basically no one gets put on them. It's a better strategy to list 5-10 realistic teams for your best shot.
Compensation
You can find all of this on Glassdoor, but for the sake of shoving all relevant information into one page -- current going offers for summer 2019 are:
Additionally, all Redmond interns receive free corporate housing OR a $7000 net housing stipend, a subsidized car rental OR a $1200 net transportation stipend, a $300 net misc expenses stipend (read: pays for checked bags and shipping), a bus pass for the Seattle metro area, reimbursed gym membership, free healthcare (no dental for interns), access to the Connector shuttles to and from work, Intern Day (which has replaced the Signature Event), and more.
After accounting for California taxes and cost of living differences, my personal opinions is that for internships, Microsoft HQ offers are marginally more competitive than Google HQ offers and on par with Facebook HQ offers.
Housing
You could end up in a Hilton with breakfast every morning, or you could end up in an Issaquah (read: far af) motel with 1.5 stars on Yelp. These things have both happened to lots of people who took corporate housing. Are you cool making this gamble? If so, cool, take corporate housing. If not, the housing stipend is 200% the way to go; the stipend amount went up to $7,000 as of 12/1/2017, which is enough to pocket money regardless of where you choose to live as long as you don't choose a ridiculous Airbnb/sublet/etc (advice: find other interns to live with and pool your collective stipend power. Trying to find a solo Airbnb might actually be challenging just for logistics reasons alone.)
Car Rentals
Are you gonna travel to music festivals or go hiking every weekend? If so, you should take the car option. If not, most interns find that Puget Sound public transit + the Connector system is more than enough. If you choose to forgo a car, you receive a Orca Card (the Puget Sound bus pass) that is topped up with unlimited rides, as well as a $1200 transportation stipend (meant to cover things like ocassional Ubers/Lyfts, etc.)
Intern Day
Intern Day was introduced in the Summer of 2019 to replace the Signature Event. It was an all-day event with a few speakers in the morning, including the CEO Satya Nadella; this was followed by food trucks, lawn games, a beer garden, indoor activities, and a concert. This change was somewhat controversial, as the Signature Event was a major distinguishing factor between Microsoft and other companies. Some interns report enjoying the Intern Day more; other interns report really missing the Signature Event.
Signature Event (replaced by Intern Day)
The sig event was a festival of activities and a concert held at a landmark venue in the Seattle metro area every year. This event was also the night the 'intern gift' was given; it was a major distinguishing factor between competitors' internships and Microsoft internships, so the change from Signature Event to Intern Day remains somewhat controversial.
Some examples; in 2016, the sig event was Ellie Goulding at Seattle Center (Space Needle and the Chihuly Museum were shut down for Interns) and the gift was a maxxed out Surface Book (retail ~$1900/person.) In 2017, it was Daya and The Chainsmokers at the Boeing Factory/Museum/Runway in Mukilteo (the concert was on an active runway) and the gift was an Xbox One S (retail $250/person.) In 2018, it was Julia Michaels and Pitbull at Gasworks Park in Seattle, and the gift was again an Xbox One S (retail $250/person.)
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