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INTERVIEW PREP · US AND INDIA

Microsoft software engineer interview

The rounds at each level, what interviewers score, the Growth mindset plus stated values, and the questions candidates report, linked to problems you can solve here with the editor, walkthrough video and solutions in four languages.

Based on public candidate reports and Microsoft's own careers pages, checked November 2026. Processes vary by team and change over time. AlgoRung is not affiliated with Microsoft.

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Your level

Levels

AlgoRung levelMicrosoft titleExperienceInterviews after screeningDesign rounds
SDE 1Software Engineer (59–60)New grad to about 2 years about 4Usually not
SDE 2Software Engineer II (61–62)About 2 to 5 years about 4Usually not
SDE 3Senior Software Engineer (63–64)Senior, about 5 to 10 years about 5Yes
SDE 4Principal Software Engineer (65–67) and aboveStaff, principal and above about 5Yes

The rounds, in order

Pick your level above to see only your rounds. Each step links to a guide on how that round is scored.

  1. Online assessment · 90 min

    Mostly for new grads and campus hiring: two or three easy-to-medium coding problems in 60 to 90 minutes.

    SDE 1

  2. Phone / recruiter screen · 60 min

    One or two live coding problems, sometimes with resume questions, occasionally run by the hiring manager.

    All levels

  3. Coding (DSA) × 3 · 45 min

    Code runs in a tool that compiles and executes it, pseudocode is not accepted, and you are expected to test your own solution; new-grad loops are often three coding rounds.

    All levels

  4. System design (HLD) · 60 min

    Design sets your level for senior and above; mid-level loops may skip it or keep it light, and infrastructure roles can have more than one.

    SDE 3, SDE 4

  5. Hiring manager · 60 min

    The final conversation, historically called the 'As Appropriate' (AA) interview, covers background and behavioral questions and often one open design question.

    All levels

ScreeningCodingDesignBehavioralDecision

What interviewers look for

  • Clarifying questions and a plan before code
  • Clean, compilable, bug-free code in your strongest language
  • Testing your own solution: boundaries, errors, stress cases
  • Time management inside a 45-minute round
  • Growth mindset: learning from failure and taking feedback
  • Collaboration with teammates and partner teams
  • At senior and above: distributed-systems design, resiliency and availability

Topics to focus on

Weighted by what candidates say comes up and by the reported questions below.

Behavioral: Growth mindset plus stated values

There is often no separate behavioral round: most rounds mix in questions about past work, collaboration and learning from mistakes. The careers site names these values as what it looks for.

RespectIntegrity and trust

Show you were honest when it was uncomfortable, and how you earned trust back.

  • Describe a mistake you made that reached production. How did you handle it?
  • Tell me about a time you had to tell someone something they did not want to hear.
  • Describe how you built trust with a new team or stakeholder.
IntegrityIntegrity and trust

Show you were honest when it was uncomfortable, and how you earned trust back.

  • Describe a mistake you made that reached production. How did you handle it?
  • Tell me about a time you had to tell someone something they did not want to hear.
  • Describe how you built trust with a new team or stakeholder.
AccountabilityOwnership

Show you took responsibility beyond your task: you noticed, you acted, you followed through.

  • Tell me about a time you took on something outside your responsibilities.
  • Tell me about a time you made a decision that hurt in the short term but helped in the long term.
  • Describe a mistake you made that reached production. How did you handle it?
Growth mindsetCuriosity and growth

Show something you learned on your own and how you used it at work.

  • Tell me about the hardest feedback you have given or received.
  • Tell me about a project that failed. What did you learn?
  • Tell me about something you had to learn quickly for a project.

All behavioral questions · Write your STAR stories in the story bank

Coding questions candidates report

Each links to the AlgoRung problem: write-up, animated walkthrough, solutions in Java, Python, C++ and JavaScript, and an editor with hidden tests. Shared questions show the other companies that ask them.

Difficulty
Topic
21 questions
  1. Reverse Words in a String Medium Arrays & Hashing
  2. Two Sum Easy Arrays & Hashing also Amazon, Atlassian, Swiggy
  3. Word Search Medium Recursion & Backtracking also PhonePe
  4. First Missing Positive Hard Arrays & Hashing also Flipkart, Walmart Global Tech
  5. Spiral Matrix Medium Arrays & Hashing also Adobe
  6. Longest Substring with At Most K Distinct Characters Medium Arrays & Hashing also Razorpay
  7. Reverse Nodes in k-Group Hard Linked List also Amazon
  8. Copy List with Random Pointer Medium Linked List also Amazon, Meta
  9. Merge k Sorted Lists Hard Heaps also Amazon
  10. Swap Nodes in Pairs Medium Linked List
  11. Sort List Medium Linked List
  12. Construct Binary Tree from Preorder and Inorder Traversal Medium Trees & BST
  13. Validate Binary Search Tree Medium Trees & BST
  14. Number of Islands Medium Graphs also Amazon, Meta, Goldman Sachs +1
  15. Median of Two Sorted Arrays Hard Binary Search also Adobe
  16. Trapping Rain Water Hard Arrays & Hashing also Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Salesforce +1
  17. LRU Cache Medium Design Data Structures also Amazon, Apple, Netflix +4
  18. Container With Most Water Medium Arrays & Hashing also Goldman Sachs
  19. Sort Colors Medium Arrays & Hashing
  20. Decode String Medium Stack also Google
  21. Gas Station Medium Arrays & Hashing also Amazon

Microsoft coding questions by topic · Microsoft SDE 1 interview · Microsoft SDE 2 interview · Microsoft senior interview · Microsoft staff interview

Also reported, not on AlgoRung yet (4)

String Compression · Delete Node in a BST · Regular Expression Matching · Sliding Window Maximum

Design questions

Formal design rounds start at Senior (63+) and are optional or light at SDE II. The prep page names distributed systems, service-oriented architecture, replication, partitioning, CAP and auto-scaling. Prompts often resemble Microsoft or Azure products.

Also reported: Design a distributed cache · Design a feature flag service

Microsoft system design questions in detail · How to answer any design question: the LADDER method

Worth knowing

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Sources

Written in our own words from these public pages and candidate reports, checked November 2026. Company names are trademarks of their owners.

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