Applied through a campus recruiter, passed a phone interview, and took a trip to Redmond for an all-day interview. While people seemed nice, the company as a whole rubbed me the wrong way. The phone interview did not feel very welcoming and after talking to the various employees during the on-site interview, I got the feeling that Microsoft was a bit too paranoid. Developers only got to see fragments of a system (in this case, Windows 8 during its development) at a time and annual performance reviews ensured that no matter what, a percentage of the lowest performing engineers would be laid off (even if the lowest performing engineers were in fact well above average compared to other companies). None of the interviewers seemed to be happy with where they were and had a vibe that having to conduct an interview was almost not worth their time. The overall environment felt a bit too competitive and hostile for my taste. Ended up goofing on the on-site interview itself due to nervousness and being intimidated--it was not until a few days after that I realized those emotions were red flags.

Expect technical deep dives, coding challenges, and problem-solving scenarios. Questions will probe your knowledge of data structures, algorithms, and software design, assessing your ability to build robust systems. yes yus yes