Status: 3rd year, BS CS (noname university in Canada)
Position: Microsoft Intern
Location: Vancouver, BC
Date: Nov 15, 2017
Phone screen (1 hour):
- Behavioral questions
- Questions about Passion
- Questions about Creativity
- Questions about my interests
After the phone screen, I was flown to the company’s building in Vancouver for a day of 4 x 45min back to back technical interviews. I was required to code on a white board during three of the interviews, and, in the fourth, I just had to describe my approach to solving the problem.
1st Onsite Interview (45min):
- I had to design a data structure (I used Python)
- This questions is available on leet code: https://leetcode.com/problems/insert-delete-getrandom-o1/
2nd Onsite Interview (45min):
- I had to code a DFS on a 2D grid of coloured cells (I used CPP)
- A very similar question is available: https://leetcode.com/problems/number-of-islands/
3rd Onsite Interview (45min):
- Find Kth largest element in unsorted array using a heap (I used Python)
- I was then asked to implement a max-heap on the whiteboard
- This questions is available on leet code: https://leetcode.com/problems/kth-largest-element-in-an-array/
- After solving the above questions, I was asked to talk through a solution to this problem: https://leetcode.com/problems/single-number/
4th Onsite Interview (45min):
- I was asked questions about how to handle conflicts in a team
- I was asked about group communication skills
- I had to talk through how to create a Soduku solver
- This questions is available on leet code: https://leetcode.com/problems/valid-sudoku/
The Microsoft office in Vancouver has a great view of the city and is located in the centre of downtown. There is a makerspace, a VR room, and free drinks and fruit. Management is nice and places an emphasis on having a good work-life balance. Rent in downtown Vancouver is very expensive!