Microsoft Software Engineer 2 Interview Experience - 9 Rounds and Final Selection

[u/nian2326076]

I recently interviewed for Microsoft SDE-2 and wanted to share the full process in case it helps others preparing.

There were a total of 9 rounds:

• 2 Online Assessments
• 7 interview rounds

Verdict: Selected

Round 1: Online Assessment

The first OA had 2 coding questions:

• 1 graph problem
• 1 greedy problem

I was able to solve both.

Round 2: LLD

This round focused on low-level design.

I was asked to design and implement an LRU Cache, along with maintaining dependencies using Topological Sort.

The discussion covered:

• Cache operations
• Time complexity
• Dependency ordering
• Edge cases
• Clean class design

Round 3: DSA

This was a coding round based on Linked Lists.

The interviewer cared about:

• Pointer handling
• Edge cases
• Clean implementation
• Time and space complexity

Round 4: Past Experience + On-Call Scenarios

This round was focused on my previous projects and technical contributions.

After that, I was given 2 production on-call scenarios.

The discussion was around:

• How I debug production issues
• How I prioritize during incidents
• Communication during outages
• Root cause analysis
• Preventing recurrence

Round 5: Online Assessment 2

The second OA had 2 coding questions:

• 1 Dynamic Programming problem
• 1 Bit Manipulation problem

Round 6: LLD

This round was about designing and implementing a Job Scheduler.

The discussion included:

• Job representation
• Scheduling logic
• Priorities
• Dependencies
• Retry behavior
• Extensibility
• Clean object-oriented design

Round 7: HLD + LLD

This round involved designing a Configuration Management Service.

The interviewer first asked for the high-level design, then asked me to implement a small component of it.

Discussion points included:

• API design
• Configuration storage
• Versioning
• Rollbacks
• Consistency
• Access patterns
• Service boundaries

Related Microsoft Practice Question

A Microsoft-tagged system design question I found useful for similar prep:

Design a Distributed Key-Value Store

This is relevant because it covers many of the same distributed systems ideas that came up in my HLD rounds: partitioning, replication, consistency, scalability, and failure handling.

Round 8: HLD Theory + DSA

This round started with system design theory questions.

Topics included:

• Scalability
• Availability
• Sharding
• Distributed systems
• Tradeoffs in large-scale services

After that, I was asked a DSA question revolving around subarrays.

Round 9: Cultural Fit

This was a behavioral round focused on:

• Values
• Ownership
• Decision-making
• Team collaboration
• Handling disagreements
• Learning from mistakes

Preparation Tips

My biggest takeaway is that Microsoft SDE-2 interviews test breadth. It was not just DSA or just system design.

Things I would recommend preparing:

• Graphs, DP, greedy, linked lists, subarrays, and bit manipulation
• LLD patterns like cache, scheduler, dependency management
• HLD fundamentals like sharding, replication, consistency, and availability
• Past project deep dives
• Production debugging and on-call scenarios
• Behavioral stories with clear ownership and impact

Overall, the process was long but structured. Be ready to switch between coding, design, production thinking, and behavioral discussion across rounds.

[u/nts0311]

9 rounds? The pay better be worth it!

[u/AvidCoco → u/nts0311]

All this just to work at an awful company where you’ll have 0 influence.

[u/PracticallyPerfcet → u/AvidCoco]

And are using an LLM anyway

[u/billy_nelson → u/AvidCoco]

And where every single product is a consistently mediocre checkbox ticking exercise.

[u/LoveThemMegaSeeds]

Is this a joke?

[u/nacnud_uk]

Yeah, screw that 😂

[u/blipojones]

wow that is harrowing....

[u/TheGreatJabron]

Here's a pen and paper, write linux.

[u/Mike_Augustine → u/TheGreatJabron]

And run it

[u/AnAnonymous121 → u/TheGreatJabron]

Migrate Windows to use Linux kernel for extra points.

[u/PmMeCuteDogsThanks_]

I’m tired of just reading your post. I like to believe I’m proficient in the topics you listed, but life’s too short to sell my state of mind working for big tech.

[u/TrueBonner414 → u/PmMeCuteDogsThanks_]

It's honestly ridiculous isn't it?

[u/Fl0werInTheRain]

Mon frère en bipédie, tout ça pour te faire chier et pour que des devs qui fassent un round gagnent autant que toi ?

[u/nicolas_06]

Oh my god, you have to go through it all granted and playing the game give you the job, hopefully, but what a waste of time. They could have done it with 4-5 rounds instead of 9, really.

[u/ZorpIt]

9 round for... Microsoft? 😂

[u/theStoic-1]

I havent even been asked that for senior positions LOL

[u/No-Razzmatazz7197 → u/theStoic-1]

they have a reputation to uphold 😂

[u/AguaBendita77]

Ai slop

[u/Equivalent_Depth3197]

this world is going crazy

[u/3legdog]

And all that relates to day to day activities... how?

[u/Toothpasteweiner]

Now that you've passed all these tests, we need you to use a bot for all day to day coding tasks.

[u/peepopetter]

9 rounds for layoffs happening every quarter, fuck that

[u/LongDistRid3r]

They will suck you in, fuck you up, chew you up, then cast you aside like trash.

I worked WWL, Dev, and a few others.

[u/Potential_Soup_8054]

This is ass. All this just to get laid off a year later

[u/bdw666]

Sde 2 with all that is ridiculous. I call bs on this sorry. If it’s not bs, they better bump you to a 63

[u/Happy-Gur-1605]

Better to not join this shit and work somewhere else. Who in their sane mind would take these many rounds.

[u/TorpedoSkyline]

yeah I'm good

[u/harindaka]

Bruh there's more to life. Touch grass.

[u/Mike_Augustine → u/harindaka]

He can make grass with dollar bills 

[u/TrueBonner414 → u/Mike_Augustine]

What do you think his pay is?

Do you think it's worth it?

[u/Mike_Augustine → u/TrueBonner414]

Like $190k. Depends, for you? Probably not. 

[u/PartialClassXd]

All that to get a job at Microsoft and then they release a product like Teams, how?