Microsoft Sr. Software Engineer interview questions
based on 307 ratings - Updated May 30, 2026
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Three rounds in total. First round feels like a tech screening, check if you can code. I was asked to implement a LinkedList and find a way to check if the LinkedList contains a loop. The second round feels a bit like system design, I need to write some pseudocode to implement a Google Drive like system. The last round is a difficult leetcode problem. During each interview they ask you some behavioural questions too. There are long waiting period between each interview. For me it took at least 1 week for recruiter to get back, and another 1 week to schedule the next interview. After the last interview it took 3 weeks before the recruiter got back to me.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Microsoft
Interview
There were two rounds of interviews. I passed the first round but wasn’t selected in the second, which I expected since there was a lot of new information I needed to learn in a very short period of time.
Two advices: practice LeetCode more and improve your system design skills.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe a time when you overestimated the complexity or value of a feature.
I applied online. I interviewed at Microsoft in May 2025
Interview
This was one of the more strange and impersonal interview experiences Ive had. Recruiter reached out via email and the typical recruiter screening was just done through email. They then scheduled the next interview for me without confirming my availability, and no information was provided on what that interview round covered.
Only to discover it was a leetcode style interview with another engineer, which was OK, but the interviewer was quite rude and was not receptive to questions.
Overall negative experience, and turned me off of wanting to work at Microsoft in the future.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Traverse binary tree to find leaf nodes in a particular order