SDE at Microsoft

How it went

What they would tell you

How to prepare

Their background

Round by round

1. 1

   DSA Round60 min

   This was an online live coding session with the interviewer watching I got two problems, involved sorting and backtracking topic For first problem, I went for a brute-force approach, It worked on some test cases but failed few hidden ones, those tricky edge cases second problem, this one I cracked with optimized solution, passed all test cases

   • Sorting
   • Backtracking
2. 2

   System Design 160 min

   The problem was to design a news feed system, but with some custom requirements, not just your basic like, comment, share.

   • How to handle millions of users.
   • Personalized feeds and ranking algorithms.
   • Caching and database sharding for speed.
   • Handling real-time updates.
   • Privacy and access control The interviewer was friendly and interactive, he listened to my ideas, asked probing questions
3. 3

   System Design 260 min

   This round had two parts: First, continued with the same HLD problem, going deeper into design and implementation details Second, I was given hard two-pointers DSA problem, which I managed to solve completely. All test cases passed, which felt really good By the end of this round, I felt confident about my performance

4. 4

   Hiring Manager Round60 min

   Questions: My projects what I built, what challenges I faced, what I’d do differently. Past experiences how I work in a team, how I handle conflicts. Situational questions what I’d do if a project fell behind, how I communicate with leadership, how I stay motivated. Technical discussions how I approach new problems, what tech excites me.

What came up