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Cheat Sheet: some of the more frequent Microsoft interview questions

Chris Sells has had a great guide to some of the questions one can expect online for awhile when going through the process at Microsoft.  This got me thinking.  I'm 0-2 at the moment myself - I've been through the Microsoft interview process once in person and once over the phone, so I've taken note of the mentality when it comes to their brain-draining questions.  If you've never had an interview there, I really suggest you apply...it's really fun and very educational, but you'll crash out from mental exhaustion afterward for sure.  It is, from various accounts and articles on both business as well as technical journals THE world's hardest job interview (although I've heard Dow Chemical and Pepsi are also tough).  And I was just there for a marketing gig. 

It's the Microsoft way to not really judge you based on the quality, speed, or accuracy of your answers, because much of the time, you're asked questions for which there is no right response.  The key is that it's your reaction and thought processes to the questioning that much of the time determine how well you did.  Do you go to pieces when asked a certain question?  Do you display some sort if systematic problem-solving when trying to suss out a very vague situation?  Do you try and BS your way through it and get it over with quickly?  Do you just give up?

While not an exhaustive list by any means, here are some of my favorites that I was asked.  I've even used some of these when interviewing candidates for positions under me.

  • why is a manhole cover round?
  • how many streetlights are there in New York City?
  • how do you design the world's perfect toaster?
  • how can we make Word better to lawyers?
  • why is XSLT inferior?
  • what type(s) of technology appeal to YOU, and why?
  • how would you explain Excel to your grandmother?
  • how would you test whether a pepper dispenser worked?
  • suppose two spaces occupy two distinct values.  introduce a third space and have the third assume the value of the first in no more than 3 steps, moving sequentially and not skipping
  • assume you have to market a new alarm clock for the deaf.  How do you do it?  (this one's harder than it looks)

If you've gone through the Microsoft interview process, what are your favorite questions? 

And dammit...I will make it in there one of these days. 

Posted: Jan 30 2004, 03:03 PM by guam-aspdev | with 44 comment(s)
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Comments

TrackBack said:

# January 29, 2004 2:36 PM

Scott Mitchell said:

I've gone through the interview process twice - once for an internship and once for a full-tiime job. The vast majority of the questions I got were technical, and not brain teasers or riddles like those listed. There were some typical college CS classes, like, "Write the code to do a postorder traversal of a binary tree," "Given an list of words as an array of strings, write code to find all the anagrams," "Write code to implement C's atoi() function," and "Write code to determine if there exists a cycle in a linked list."

I also had some typical questions - where do you see yourself in 5 years, why do you want to work for this company, blah, blah, blah. Both interviews, though, were a boatload of fun - one up in Redmond and one in Silicon Valley.

>assume you have to market a new alarm clock for the
>deaf. How do you do it?

"Market" or "create?" If it was market, I dunno, run some ads in "The Deaf Quarterly," and on deaf-related sitcoms.

>suppose two spaces occupy two distinct values.

I know those words, but that sentence makes no sense. A space occupies a value? Usually things occupy spaces, not the other way around, no?

>how can we make Word better to lawyers?

What's funny, my lawyer uses some ancient version of WordPerfect that is DOS-based, he has to drop to the command line to run it and gets 80x25 resolution. No WYSIWYG, no mouse. But, man, he knows the keyboard shortcuts like nobody's business.
# January 30, 2004 12:50 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Scott,

Yeah, part of the challenge was sussing out what was trying to be said. I think you're right about the "create" over "market" question, but I do remember vividly one hiring manager asking about spaces occupying values, which I took to mean variables. It was basically a math question to have X, Y and Z, and have Z at some point assume X's value. Or something like that. I found the answer in a book I bought in the Seattle-Tacoma Airport "How to Get A Job At MIcrosoft"...on my way back home after the interview. :)
# January 30, 2004 12:55 AM

M. Keith Warren said:

I got asked to describe 5 server controls the ASP.NET team should add; then once I was done answering I had to tell the interviewer why they should not add them.

Another memorable one...Design an object model for poker :)
# January 30, 2004 1:27 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Keith,

I forgot about that one! I was also asked to describe a new server control for the ASP.NET team and break down the object model, and add in new features. The big challenge was that the hiring manager kept shooting these rapid-fire conditions at me while I was in the middle of my sentences.
# January 30, 2004 1:31 AM

M. Keith Warren said:

We must have been interviewed by the same woman! She kept interrupting me trying to guide (or misguide) my path of reasoning. Twas frustrating but considering the position, very neccessary.
# January 30, 2004 2:19 AM

Jared Evans said:

I was in talks with someone over at Microsoft about a possible interview and she had a tip for me:

Read this book: Programming Interviews Exposed: Secrets to Landing Your Next Job

There would be questions related to thing such as insert/delete a node or reverse a singly linked list. Also, you should be able to do the same for a doubly linked list. (To reverse a doubly linked list, just swap the next and previous pointers -- it's a trick question.) Other types of questions are to determine if a b-tree is valid (nodes on the left are less than nodes on the right), to reverse a text string, etc.
# January 30, 2004 2:36 AM

M. Keith Warren said:

...another popular book...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316919160/qid=1075449567//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-5929800-7631059?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
# January 30, 2004 3:00 AM

Scott Galloway said:

I had a couple when I interviewed - One was about the number of cars going over the golden gate bridge, another was about telling which was the heaviest out of n balls in the fewest moves. I had a security one about secure key exchange (public / private key stuff) and an odd one about 'the perfect alarm clock'. Unfortunately, I was sick and jet-lagged, they may as well have asked me to count up to 10 in sumerian for all the sense they were going to get from me (I spent the next 2 days in a Seattle hospital)
# January 30, 2004 8:47 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Scott,

Yeah, my jetlag had a little to do with the rapidity of my responses...coming from Guam, I'd been on planes for 19 hours straight, and then got into Seattle at 5AM, with the interview at 7AM. But nothing like yours. Hope everything worked out.
# January 30, 2004 6:05 PM

TrackBack said:

# January 31, 2004 1:26 PM

TrackBack said:

# February 11, 2004 3:35 AM

Rex John said:

Hey Jason Salas & M. Keith Warren ,
What position did you guys interview for?
Rex John
# February 22, 2004 9:55 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Rex,

At the time, I was up for a product manager position on the Office team.
# February 22, 2004 6:11 PM

Paul said:

Hi guys, I'm applying for an internship (summer) as a software design engineer. I have amazing background in mathematics and problem solving. I was a former International Mathematical Olympiad participant.

But the problem is, I've only experienced C++/programming for a year. So my computer knowledge really isn't THAT great. My worry is that they ask me some technical things about C++ or computer knowledge and I wouldn't have a clue.

I can ace the riddles/logic questions with ease, but technical C++ questions I don't think I can do too well. I've taken 2 courses in C++ so I know everything up to linked list/polymorphism...ect. But I really haven't delved too deep into techniques/tricks.

Am I in a bad situation?
# February 26, 2004 10:46 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Paul,

Just be yourself and answer honestly. Try and work out whatever strange problems they throw at you and give it your best shot. The worst thing you can do is try and lie your way through it or give up right away. Good luck!
# February 26, 2004 5:41 PM

Paul said:

I've sent in my electronic resume about a week ago and haven't heard a phone call yet. Does this mean there is no hope? Generally how long is the time between sending out the resume and receiving a phone call (if Microsoft is interested)?

Thanks.
# March 1, 2004 10:16 AM

Jason Salas said:

Paul,

This is the gray area. I've known people who've sent their resumes and get nothing back for months. The company is constantly shifting and evolving, and departments get new hires positions and close existing ones all the time.

Remember, Microsoft is a huge corporation, so they literally get thousands of applications a day, which stack up over time.

Sadly, the only thing you can do it wait. :(
# March 1, 2004 7:36 PM

Paul said:

Is it also the same for interns? When do people applying for summer interns (college student) get interviews?
# March 2, 2004 1:29 PM

Jason Salas said:

I think if you have to openly apply for an intern job (i.e., you're not contacted by a Microsoft recruiter or your school doesn't set it up for you), it's a waiting game.

Good luck!
# March 2, 2004 4:38 PM

Sachin Patil said:

Guys!!!

I have an interview in another 2 or 3 days. That is a phone interview of 20-25 mins. Please do tell me the ways. What is generally asked in the initial Phone interview.

# April 8, 2004 5:45 AM

Jason Salas said:

Just keep some of the comments on this post in mind...and check out Chris Sells' post at: http://www.sellsbrothers.com/fun/msiview/default.aspx?content=question.htm

Good luck!
# April 8, 2004 6:02 AM

Sachin Patil said:

Thanks Jason,

I will let you know my performance !!!!
# April 8, 2004 2:39 PM

Bill Hayes said:

Hi Jason,

If you were interviewed on MS campus by less than 6 interviewers, is that a bad sign?
I read from web resources that 6 interviews (the last one being the project manager) is a good sign.
But my recruiter said it doesn't have to be 6 interviews....


Thanks,
Bill
# April 13, 2004 7:12 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Bill,

I'd say that's typical. I've met people that say they've been through the wringer as many as 9 times in a day, and I've also seen people who have only gone to 5 hiring managers. And of course, executives typically have one high-level talk and they're in :)

Good luck!
# April 13, 2004 8:59 PM

Santos said:

I got an on-site interview with them on friday, and Im excited and scared at the same time. I know that its quite a challenge to get a job and I also know that there are a ton of really smart people applying also. I managed to get passed the phone interview and get a shot with the oncampus trials. It'd be awesome to get a job there but I look at stuff like, XSLT drawbacks and ASP.NET controls, and I have little to no knowledge about either technologies. I'm applying for a fulltime Sofware Design Engineer (I graduate in June), but considering these questions, I dont know that I have much of a chance.
# April 14, 2004 5:23 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Santos,

Just be yourself...talk about the stuff you know and they won't harp on areas that you've got no experience with. You'll be expected to give deep opinions on the areas you are interested in and that you do work with, so just concentrate on being strong on working with what you do know.
# April 14, 2004 5:26 AM

Dan Kelly said:

I have an interview for a director level marketing position at Microsoft. Please guide me with any inputs to face the interview successfully. Thank you
# April 23, 2004 2:00 PM

TrackBack said:

# February 26, 2005 9:59 AM

SavindraSingh said:

Q:why is a manhole cover round?

????---------------????

Q:how many streetlights are there in New York City?

A:127,856 If you have doubt you can go and count it by ur self..

Q:how do you design the world's perfect toaster?

A: By doing a survay with all the baker in the city where I am going to produce it.

Q:how can we make Word better to lawyers?

A: More the Law, More the Liberty

Less the Law, More the Liberty..

More the crime, world is better for Lawyers

Q:why is XSLT inferior?

A: My god knows?

Q: what type(s) of technology appeal to YOU, and why?

A: Just IT, what else could be..

Q:how would you explain Excel to your grandmother?

A: It is the easiest way invented for purpose of doing your mathematical and statastical work

Q: how would you test whether a pepper dispenser worked?

A: by opening it's unit

Q: suppose two spaces occupy two distinct values.  introduce a third space and have the third assume the value of the first in no more than 3 steps, moving sequentially and not skipping

A: May be you know answer then why are you asking this to me?

Q: assume you have to market a new alarm clock for the deaf.  How do you do it?  (this one's harder than it looks)

A: Using a visual media and showing a vibrating clock in it.

# July 6, 2007 7:17 AM

xena said:

Manholes are round so that the covers don't fall in.  If a manhole were any other shape, the cover could fall through.

# January 16, 2008 6:51 PM

MM said:

I had a phone interview with Microsoft and after a few days they said they consider other candidates. I wanted to know if any one was f interviewed by Microsoft twice and is there any chance for me in future?

# March 7, 2008 8:48 PM

sam said:

hey MM,

who did interview you?? a lady??? what was her name??

# March 13, 2008 10:46 PM

SamD said:

Guys... this was quite useful page..

I have an interview next week. Phone interview. Basically all on Exchange. Its going to be technical by 3 people..

I have no idea as how to prepare myself...and I need this job desperately...

Any Help??

Thx in Advance..

# March 27, 2008 3:57 PM

Progneer said:

huh! I answered these questions when I was 8 years old.....

# April 30, 2009 12:24 AM

Sarb said:

Hey Guys,

i could probably have phone interview for asp.net and sql server postion next week.

Do anybody know what kind of questions they ask in phone interview?

thanks

# October 9, 2009 2:20 PM

pradeep yadav said:

Hello Everyone

I want know selection procedure for 1.5 year experience in Microsoft technologies, please send me some question if any one have on my id pradeep1504@yahoo.co.in

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