RejectedSDE-2 at Microsoft
- Difficulty
- Process took
- 1-2 Weeks
- Rounds
- 2
- Format
- Remote
- Applied via
- Other
How it went
- While technical skills matter but time management during interviews is crucial. Be mindful of how much time you spend thinking vs coding.
What they would tell you
- While technical skills matter but time management during interviews is crucial. Be mindful of how much time you spend thinking vs coding.
How to prepare
- LLD and DSA(important one Greedy, DP, Backtracking)
Their background
From last four year working in a service based company
Round by round
- 1
DSA 190 min
In the first round, I was given a DSA problem on arrays and greedy algorithms. The task was to solve the candy distribution problem. I initially came up with an O(n^2) solution, but the interviewer wanted a more optimal O(1) approach. To make things a bit more stressful, the interviewer joined 15 minutes late, and no extra time was given to make up for the delay. At last, The interviewer appreciated my approach but mentioned the time complexity was too high.
- 2
DSA 290 min
The second round of the interview was quite challenging. I got two tough questions. The first one was all about Insert-Delete-GetRandom with O(1) operations and duplicates allowed. I managed to solve it pretty well. But then came the second question: designing a Video Sharing Platform. I struggled with that one and couldn't come up with the expected solution, so the round ended up being a bit challenging.
What came up
A candidate-reported account, lightly edited. Interview processes change by team and date.