# Microsoft Software Engineer Interview Experiences 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/guides/microsoft-software-engineer-interview/experiences Source observed: 2026-11-04T22:42:56.195Z Last checked: 2026-11-04T22:42:56.195+00:00 Indexed: 2026-11-05T22:09:30.716+00:00 --- # Microsoft Software Engineer Interview Experiences We provide candidate-reported experiences for the Microsoft software engineering interview process. This collection was updated a month ago by Microsoft candidates and contains 25 interview experiences. Related sections include the [expert guide](https://www.aced.io/guides/microsoft-software-engineer-interview), [102 interview questions](https://www.aced.io/guides/microsoft-software-engineer-interview/questions), and [138 resumes](https://www.aced.io/guides/microsoft-software-engineer-interview/resumes). [Share your experience](https://www.aced.io/questions/contribute?src=guide) ## Reported interview overview - **Difficulty:** Most candidates rate the Microsoft interview as **moderate**. The displayed ratings are: Very easy 0, 1, Moderate 17, 1, Very difficult 0. - **Reported outcomes:** **50%** of reported Microsoft interviews result in an offer: No offer 7, Declined 1, Accepted 6. - **Question categories:** Microsoft is reported to focus most on **Coding** and **Data Structures & Algorithms**: Coding 17, Data Structures & Algorithms 16, Behavioral 9, Other 16. ## Featured experience: Software Development Engineer II [Read the full experience](https://www.aced.io/experiences/microsoft-software-engineer-interview-ca84de?returnPath=%2Fguides%2Fmicrosoft-software-engineer-interview%2Fexperiences) - **Company:** Microsoft - **Level:** Mid Level / L4 - **Location:** United States - **Submitted:** May 12, 2026 - **Interview status:** Verified; April 2026; Moderate The candidate described a lengthy SDE II process. It began with a HackerRank assessment, followed by a one-hour recruiter screen focused on motivation and culture fit, and then three back-to-back interviews covering coding, system design, and low-level design. Several prompts were vague, requiring clarification to uncover requirements. In the coding round, the candidate felt that reasoning through a binary-tree problem mattered more than using the exact BFS or DFS terminology. The candidate rated the difficulty about the same as Google or Amazon, with somewhat more emphasis on logical thinking and culture. ### Questions listed for this experience - [Why do you want to work at Microsoft?](https://www.aced.io/questions/1727) - [Tell me about a time you had a conflict with your manager.](https://www.aced.io/questions/4877) - [Design a system that delivers firmware updates to devices.](https://www.aced.io/questions/5984) - [+6 more questions and the full experience](https://www.aced.io/experiences/microsoft-software-engineer-interview-ca84de?returnPath=%2Fguides%2Fmicrosoft-software-engineer-interview%2Fexperiences) ## Additional reported experiences The collection includes experiences for software engineer, software engineer II, senior software engineer, software engineering intern, and software engineer (SC2) roles. Candidate reports describe the following processes, topics, and questions: - **Software Engineer (SC2):** An Experience + Devices role focused on Copilot integration into Microsoft 365. The report describes an engineer screen followed by a four-round final loop over two days. The rounds included coding, system design, and hiring-manager discussions; a file-system prompt required a low-level design with classes and multiple use cases in 45 minutes. Listed questions include conflict resolution, teaching oneself something new, and Design a file system. - **Software Engineer:** Preparation reports mention LeetCode, data structures and algorithms, system design, dynamic programming, a TTL cache, and current responsibilities. - **Software Engineer:** Reports include LRU and LFU cache design, a timer system, and distinctions between LRU and LFU. - **Senior Software Engineer:** Topics include self-introduction, biggest failure, and staying current with developments in AI. - **Software Engineer II:** Reports describe quick processes with rounds scheduled in the same week, real-world code implementations rather than direct LeetCode-style problems, and open-ended system design with ambiguous requirements. Questions include self-introduction, implementing an LRU cache, and interview-process timing. - **Software Engineer:** One report describes a screen followed by three loop rounds in one day. Coding questions included finding the median from a data stream and implementing @ tagging like Teams/Slack, with follow-ups and edge cases. Behavioral questions were mixed into coding rounds. - **Software Engineer:** A report lists a HackerRank assessment and explaining leader-follower election in a distributed system. - **Software Engineer:** A report describes two medium LeetCode questions, two medium coding rounds, and one computer-science fundamentals round. Listed problems include Letter Combinations of a Phone Number, checking whether a word exists in a string, and Accounts Merge. - **Software Engineer:** A report describes linked lists, object-oriented programming with queues, inheritance, resume discussion, and follow-up questions. Listed problem: reorder a linked list. - **Software Engineer II:** Listed topics include implementing an LRU cache, designing a calendar with low-level design, and finding the next greater element. - **Software Engineer:** Listed problems include returning pairs with minimum absolute difference and reversing an integer within `[-2^15, 2^15 - 1]`. - **Software Engineering Intern:** Listed problems include justifying words to a given width and measuring exactly X liters using two jugs with capacities `a` and `b`. - **Software Engineer:** One report describes a mix of coding, design, behavioral, system-design, real-world engineering, optimization, scalability, trade-offs, and large-scale systems. Listed problem: ordering courses subject to prerequisites. - **Software Engineer:** Reports mention hard LeetCode questions, graph questions, debugging, distributed-system design, low-level design with data modeling, object-oriented programming, multithreading, configuration-service design, and resume or project discussions. - **Software Engineer:** Listed questions include why the company should hire the candidate, reversing a sentence, longest substring without repeating characters, Koko Eating Bananas, and current responsibilities. ## Access to all experiences We offer trial access when you share your own interview experience. Membership unlocks all interview experiences. - [Share your experience](https://www.aced.io/questions/contribute?src=guide-experiences) - [Become a member](https://www.aced.io/upgrade?src=guide-experiences) ## Aced We are Aced, formerly Exponent. 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