I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Microsoft (Vancouver, BC) in Sep 2008
Interview
Was contacted by recruiter who found my resume online. She suggested two positions in kernel team and search team. After I agreed phone interview was scheduled. It took about 30-40 minutes. Recruiter was very positive. Nothing really difficult. Experience question. Generic C knowledge, a couple (or one) brainteasers. One of the questions was which MS products did I use and how I would improve them. I didn't use any extensively so I mumbled something about plugins and that's it. Got polite "do not fit" email next day.
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.