# Microsoft Senior Software Engineer Interview Experience — Aced Aced (formerly Exponent) publishes a public search API over its indexed pages; the guide is at https://www.aced.io/agents/agent-access. Source: https://www.aced.io/experiences/microsoft-senior-software-engineer-interview-e2b773 Source observed: 2026-11-04T22:49:40.120Z Last checked: 2026-11-04T22:49:40.12+00:00 Indexed: 2026-11-05T23:49:03.675+00:00 --- # Microsoft Senior Software Engineer Interview Experience Aced (formerly Exponent) publishes interview guides, candidate-submitted interview experiences, interview questions, and resumes. This entry concerns a Microsoft **Senior / L5 Software Engineer** interview in the United States. ## Microsoft Software Engineer Interview Guide Updated a month ago by Microsoft candidates. - [Expert guide](https://www.aced.io/guides/microsoft-software-engineer-interview) - [Interview experiences — 25](https://www.aced.io/guides/microsoft-software-engineer-interview/experiences) - [Questions — 102](https://www.aced.io/guides/microsoft-software-engineer-interview/questions) - [Resumes — 138](https://www.aced.io/guides/microsoft-software-engineer-interview/resumes) - [Back to all experiences](https://www.aced.io/guides/microsoft-software-engineer-interview/experiences) ## Experience summary - **Company:** Microsoft - **Role:** Senior / L5 Software Engineer - **Location:** United States - **Result:** Rejected - **Interview date:** 7 months ago - **Submission:** 5 months ago - **Timespan:** 4 weeks - **Difficulty:** Moderate ## Interview process The candidate directly applied through Microsoft's portal. A recruiter also contacted the candidate directly on LinkedIn. The interview took place at the end of March for a senior software engineer role. - Technical interview ## Interview rounds There were **2 questions across 1 round**. ### Technical interview **Question types:** [Coding](https://www.aced.io/questions?type=coding) and [System Design](https://www.aced.io/questions?type=system-design). **Specific questions asked:** 1. [Implement LRU Cache.](https://www.aced.io/questions/3625) 2. [Design a timer system.](https://www.aced.io/questions/949) ## Interview tips Practice out loud with a timer, keep a framework ready for every round, and ask the recruiter what each interviewer focuses on so you can tailor examples. ## Company culture The candidate described interviewers as collaborative and said they nudged the discussion toward the user. The team appeared to value structured thinking over polish, and interviewers left time for questions at the end. ## Access and contribution The full experience is part of Aced's member content. We invite visitors to [become a member](https://www.aced.io/upgrade?src=experience) to read the rest of this interview and new experiences added weekly, or to [share an interview experience](https://www.aced.io/questions/contribute?src=experience). A **24-hour trial starts once a submission is approved**. ## More Microsoft interview experiences These are separate candidate experiences listed with this entry: 1. **Software Development Engineer II** — Microsoft, **Apr 2026**. **Verified; 5 rounds, 5 questions.** The candidate wrote: “In my binary tree round, I was not even leaning on BFS or DFS terminology, and they still liked my solution because I kept reasoning it out. That was the moment where Microsoft felt more about logical thinking than memorized interview patterns.” [Read the full interview](https://www.aced.io/experiences/microsoft-software-engineer-interview-ca84de?returnPath=%2Fguides%2Fmicrosoft-software-engineer-interview%2Fexperiences) 2. **Software Engineer (SC2)** — Microsoft, **Oct 2025**. **Verified; 3 rounds, 4 questions.** The candidate wrote: “The so-called system design round totally threw me off. He was like, \"let's code it out,\" and wanted me to build a file system with four use cases in 45 minutes, and then the recruiter just ghosted me for a month.” [Read the full interview](https://www.aced.io/experiences/microsoft-software-engineer-interview-89b7e7?returnPath=%2Fguides%2Fmicrosoft-software-engineer-interview%2Fexperiences) 3. **Software Engineer** — Microsoft, **Aug 2026**. **1 round, 1 question.** The candidate wrote: “still in progress but just leetcode prep. Studied some dsa and system design. Also dynamic programming helps.” [Read the full interview](https://www.aced.io/experiences/microsoft-software-engineer-intern-interview-d80437?returnPath=%2Fguides%2Fmicrosoft-software-engineer-interview%2Fexperiences) [See all 25 Microsoft Software Engineer interview experiences →](https://www.aced.io/guides/microsoft-software-engineer-interview/experiences) --- [Read this page’s summary](https://www.aced.io/agents/api/public/v1/page-tldr?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aced.io%2Fexperiences%2Fmicrosoft-senior-software-engineer-interview-e2b773&trace=t_679ff9ab98f3) ## Ask a follow-up about this page Need a more specific answer? Ask the exact question you have. It returns a fresh, cited answer from Aced (formerly Exponent)’s knowledge base. No account or API key required. Open this URL with your own question, URL-encoded. Include your question in q. 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