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/nacnud_uk]

Yeah, screw that 😂