Table of contents

• Where do I apply for a Microsoft interview?
• What topics should I study for?
• What are some example Microsoft technical questions?
• What are some example Microsoft behavioral questions?
• How long is the entire Microsoft interview process?
• What is the Microsoft interview like for a full time software engineering role?
• What makes Microsoft's interview process different?
• What are the levels and salary for a software engineer at Microsoft?
• How should I prepare?

Where do I apply for a Microsoft interview?

You will need to upload your resume and provide other relevant information to the Microsoft careers site, or use this LinkedIn strategy to find a recruiter to contact.

Microsoft's process varies by org and level more than most companies, so once a recruiter reaches out, ask them for your exact loop composition. They'll usually tell you.

What topics should I study for?

• Trees (one of Microsoft's most-tested areas)
  • Tree breadth first search
  • Tree depth first search
• Graphs
  • Graph breadth first search
  • Graph depth first search
• Linked list manipulation (Microsoft asks linked lists more than most companies, and candidates under-prepare them)
• Two pointers
• Sliding window
• Hash maps
• Dynamic programming (the differentiator round)
• Intervals
• Modified Binary Search
• Heaps
• Time/space analysis
• Object oriented design
• System design (standard at level 61 and above)

One practical tip: interview in C#, Java, or Python so your interviewer can actually follow your code. Loop problems often have several valid approaches, and part of the assessment is picking one and justifying it out loud.

What are some example Microsoft technical questions?

• Given a list of integers, find two numbers that add up to a specific target.
• Given a string, return the longest substring without repeating characters.
• Merge overlapping intervals in a list.
• Find the number of islands on the map.
• Reverse a linked list.
• Implement an LRU cache.
• Find the lowest common ancestor of two nodes in a binary tree.
• Validate a binary search tree.
• Construct a binary tree from its traversals.
• Given prerequisites between courses, return a valid order to take them (topological sort).
• Coin change: find the fewest coins that make a given amount.
• Find the longest common subsequence of two strings.
• Implement a class for a given API behavior.
• Design a WhatsApp-like chat system.
• Design a URL shortener that scales to millions of users.

What are some example Microsoft behavioral questions?

• Tell me about a time you failed. What did you learn, and what did you do differently afterward?
• Tell me about a time you received hard feedback.
• Tell me about a time you had to deliver with fewer resources than you needed.
• Tell me about a time you worked through ambiguity.
• Tell me about a conflict with a teammate and how you handled it.
• Why Microsoft?

Microsoft takes its growth mindset culture seriously, and interviewers score for it. Use STAR format, and don't skip the fourth beat: what you learned and how it changed your approach afterward. That's the part that actually shows growth mindset, and it's the part most candidates drop. Never blame teammates; Microsoft screens hard for positivity and ownership.

How long is the entire Microsoft interview process?

Four to eight weeks from recruiter contact to offer. The recruiter screen usually lands one to two weeks after applying, the loop is scheduled one to three weeks later, and the decision typically comes within five to ten business days after the loop.

What is the Microsoft interview like for a full time software engineering role?

Recruiter phone screen (30 minutes)

Background, level calibration, logistics, and team context. For Principal (level 65+) roles this is often a hiring manager call instead.

Online assessment or technical phone screen

Depending on the team, you'll get one of:

• An online assessment on Codility or HackerRank: typically 90 minutes, two problems, graded on correctness and efficiency against hidden test cases. No retakes, so don't attempt it cold. For interns and new grads this is the main filter.
• A technical phone screen (45-60 minutes) with a live engineer: one to three easy-to-medium problems plus some behavioral, collaborative in tone.

The loop (4-6 rounds, 45-60 minutes each, usually one day)

Microsoft still calls this the "virtual onsite," and most loops in 2026 do run virtually over Teams, with an in-person option. Composition:

• 2-3 coding interviews, noticeably harder than the screen
• 1 system design interview (standard at level 61+, and the round that most determines senior leveling). Expect broad prompts like "design a chat app" where you scope it yourself. Two Microsoft-specific things to work into your design: reliability and failure scenarios (probed much harder since 2024), and auditing, logging, and compliance. Microsoft weights these unusually heavily, and almost no generic prep covers them.
• 1 object-oriented / low-level design round on many experienced loops
• 1 domain round tied to the team's stack, often a deep dive on your past projects

There's usually no dedicated behavioral round until senior levels. Instead, behavioral assessment is woven through every round. It's rarely what earns the offer, but it's absolutely what loses it.

The "As-Appropriate" (AA) round

The final round, conducted by a Principal-level engineer, Partner, or Director, often from a different org. Historically this round only happened if the earlier rounds went well (hence "as appropriate"). Today it's standard for everyone, and Microsoft doesn't officially use the old name anymore. The AA interviewer skips the other interviewers' feedback on purpose. Their job is an independent read on whether you clear the bar at the level in question, and they'll probe whatever the loop left ambiguous. They can override an otherwise positive loop, so don't relax just because the technical rounds went well.

A note on AI in interviews: some Microsoft loops (mostly Copilot-adjacent and CoreAI orgs) now include a round where AI assistance is explicitly permitted, and you're evaluated on how you prompt, validate, and debug with it. This is org-specific, not standard. Never use AI unless your interview instructions say so in writing. Using it uninvited is treated as cheating.

What makes Microsoft's interview process different?

Interviewers pick their own questions and there's no standardized rubric, so variance between interviewers is real. The bar has also risen since Microsoft's 2025 layoffs. Candidates report harder coding rounds and more behavioral questions about doing more with less. And since early 2026, Microsoft requires three days a week in office for anyone living within 50 miles of a site, so fully-remote roles are scarcer than they were.

What are the levels and salary for a software engineer at Microsoft?

Microsoft doesn't publish an official level-to-pay map, so these are community-sourced estimates:

*Note that compensation varies based on location. These estimates are likely based on the USA HCOL market.

The compensation package will likely include:

• Base salary
• Equity vesting over 4 years
• Annual bonus
• Sign-on bonus that's only given once when hired.

Microsoft's total compensation runs lower than Google or Meta at equivalent levels, but the work-life balance reputation is better.

How should I prepare?

Drill trees, graphs, and linked lists hardest, with dynamic programming as your differentiator. Add reliability, failure modes, and compliance to your system design vocabulary. Prepare STAR stories that land the "what I learned" beat, including one about delivering under constraints. And ask your recruiter exactly what's in your loop. At Microsoft, that question has the highest return of anything you can do. If you're starting from scratch, begin with how to prepare for a technical interview.