Microsoft Interview Experience Part II
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I had my interview on 20th April at Dubai. M$ had arranged my one night stay + meals in a 5 start hotel in Dubai. Interviews started at 8:00 AM. In my session of interviews there were 6 people and among them 2 including myself had 5 interviews, 1 had 4 and rest had 3. Duration of each interview was 1 hour. The recuiter initially told that no. of interviews doesnot reflect anything.. But i think the more interviews they conduct, the more interested they are. So far max number of interviews in any of these interviews sessions was 5. My first interview was with a development manager from Windows serviceability group. He asked me about my current job project and then gave me producer consumer problem to code. i coded it using queue with linked list based implementation.then he asked to optimize for real time apps.. i did it.. then some technical questions like thread scheduling algos, interestingly, i had recently read an article on it in MSDN and i told him how windows schdules threads. So overall it went good. Second interview was with some guy Fred, again from serviceability. He asked me a bit about my Final year project, my areas of interest in CS. i told him OS, AI and computer vision. He asked me to play checker board game with him. I won and he asked me what was my strategy. He then asked to come up with algo using which a computer can play checkerboard with human. It was game playing problem of AI. and i explained him Minimax algorithm in detail. Then, he gave me a question to code that multiple threads are trying to read a file and write a file at same time, write the file writing part routine.. I came up wth design in which instead of locking complete file, i locked chunks of file before writing and then i released that lock after writing. I feel that this interview went excellent considering the kind of game playing problem he asked me. Third interview was with Maneesh. My performance in this interview was just averag. Actually he asked me to implement post order traversal of BST iteratively. I first designed my algo before coding...I was doing it using two stacks.. but he wanted to be done using one stack. He then asked me to code node deletion in a linked list based on some value. i did it. He then asked me to tell test cases for DrawLine() function. I came up with no. of test cases and this part was OK. So overall the performance in this part was just OK. 4th was with the recruiter. She just asked those typical microsoft questions like what i want to join Microsoft? why not any ot
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I had my interview on 20th April at Dubai. M$ had arranged my one night stay + meals in a 5 start hotel in Dubai. Interviews started at 8:00 AM. In my session of interviews there were 6 people and among them 2 including myself had 5 interviews, 1 had 4 and rest had 3. Duration of each interview was 1 hour. The recuiter initially told that no. of interviews doesnot reflect anything.. But i think the more interviews they conduct, the more interested they are. So far max number of interviews in any of these interviews sessions was 5. My first interview was with a development manager from Windows serviceability group. He asked me about my current job project and then gave me producer consumer problem to code. i coded it using queue with linked list based implementation.then he asked to optimize for real time apps.. i did it.. then some technical questions like thread scheduling algos, interestingly, i had recently read an article on it in MSDN and i told him how windows schdules threads. So overall it went good. Second interview was with some guy Fred, again from serviceability. He asked me a bit about my Final year project, my areas of interest in CS. i told him OS, AI and computer vision. He asked me to play checker board game with him. I won and he asked me what was my strategy. He then asked to come up with algo using which a computer can play checkerboard with human. It was game playing problem of AI. and i explained him Minimax algorithm in detail. Then, he gave me a question to code that multiple threads are trying to read a file and write a file at same time, write the file writing part routine.. I came up wth design in which instead of locking complete file, i locked chunks of file before writing and then i released that lock after writing. I feel that this interview went excellent considering the kind of game playing problem he asked me. Third interview was with Maneesh. My performance in this interview was just averag. Actually he asked me to implement post order traversal of BST iteratively. I first designed my algo before coding...I was doing it using two stacks.. but he wanted to be done using one stack. He then asked me to code node deletion in a linked list based on some value. i did it. He then asked me to tell test cases for DrawLine() function. I came up with no. of test cases and this part was OK. So overall the performance in this part was just OK. 4th was with the recruiter. She just asked those typical microsoft questions like what i want to join Microsoft? why not any ot
WOW! What the Interview Session!. are you a fresher?
"Opinions are neither right nor wrong. I cannot change your opinion. I can, however, change what influences your opinion." - David Crow
cheers, Alok Gupta
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WOW! What the Interview Session!. are you a fresher?
"Opinions are neither right nor wrong. I cannot change your opinion. I can, however, change what influences your opinion." - David Crow
cheers, Alok Gupta
yeah they considered me a fresher. But in actuall i graduated one year back i.e. in May 2004. Muhammad Shoaib Khan http://geocities.com/lansolution
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I had my interview on 20th April at Dubai. M$ had arranged my one night stay + meals in a 5 start hotel in Dubai. Interviews started at 8:00 AM. In my session of interviews there were 6 people and among them 2 including myself had 5 interviews, 1 had 4 and rest had 3. Duration of each interview was 1 hour. The recuiter initially told that no. of interviews doesnot reflect anything.. But i think the more interviews they conduct, the more interested they are. So far max number of interviews in any of these interviews sessions was 5. My first interview was with a development manager from Windows serviceability group. He asked me about my current job project and then gave me producer consumer problem to code. i coded it using queue with linked list based implementation.then he asked to optimize for real time apps.. i did it.. then some technical questions like thread scheduling algos, interestingly, i had recently read an article on it in MSDN and i told him how windows schdules threads. So overall it went good. Second interview was with some guy Fred, again from serviceability. He asked me a bit about my Final year project, my areas of interest in CS. i told him OS, AI and computer vision. He asked me to play checker board game with him. I won and he asked me what was my strategy. He then asked to come up with algo using which a computer can play checkerboard with human. It was game playing problem of AI. and i explained him Minimax algorithm in detail. Then, he gave me a question to code that multiple threads are trying to read a file and write a file at same time, write the file writing part routine.. I came up wth design in which instead of locking complete file, i locked chunks of file before writing and then i released that lock after writing. I feel that this interview went excellent considering the kind of game playing problem he asked me. Third interview was with Maneesh. My performance in this interview was just averag. Actually he asked me to implement post order traversal of BST iteratively. I first designed my algo before coding...I was doing it using two stacks.. but he wanted to be done using one stack. He then asked me to code node deletion in a linked list based on some value. i did it. He then asked me to tell test cases for DrawLine() function. I came up with no. of test cases and this part was OK. So overall the performance in this part was just OK. 4th was with the recruiter. She just asked those typical microsoft questions like what i want to join Microsoft? why not any ot
M.Shoaib Khan wrote: I had my interview on 20th April at Dubai. M$ had arranged my one night stay + meals in a 5 start hotel in Dubai. You do realise that "M$" is disrespectful. Companies tend not to hire people that are disrepectful about them.
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M.Shoaib Khan wrote: I had my interview on 20th April at Dubai. M$ had arranged my one night stay + meals in a 5 start hotel in Dubai. You do realise that "M$" is disrespectful. Companies tend not to hire people that are disrepectful about them.
My: Blog | Photos | Next SQL Presentation WDevs.com - Open Source Code Hosting, Blogs, FTP, Mail and More
Colin Angus Mackay wrote: You do realise that "M$" is disrespectful. Companies tend not to hire people that are disrepectful about them. Yeah i know that.. i am writing this after i got rejection from their side. Before that it was MS or Microsoft. Muhammad Shoaib Khan http://geocities.com/lansolution
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Colin Angus Mackay wrote: You do realise that "M$" is disrespectful. Companies tend not to hire people that are disrepectful about them. Yeah i know that.. i am writing this after i got rejection from their side. Before that it was MS or Microsoft. Muhammad Shoaib Khan http://geocities.com/lansolution
This is wierd BGates is asking for more : End overseas hiring limits [^] The whole idea of the H1-B visa thing is, don't let too many smart people come into the country," Gates You have a one year of professional work (graduated 2004) and you still think it is not because others might have higher skills. :^):^) It is Illogical to define an inventor by his invention
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I had my interview on 20th April at Dubai. M$ had arranged my one night stay + meals in a 5 start hotel in Dubai. Interviews started at 8:00 AM. In my session of interviews there were 6 people and among them 2 including myself had 5 interviews, 1 had 4 and rest had 3. Duration of each interview was 1 hour. The recuiter initially told that no. of interviews doesnot reflect anything.. But i think the more interviews they conduct, the more interested they are. So far max number of interviews in any of these interviews sessions was 5. My first interview was with a development manager from Windows serviceability group. He asked me about my current job project and then gave me producer consumer problem to code. i coded it using queue with linked list based implementation.then he asked to optimize for real time apps.. i did it.. then some technical questions like thread scheduling algos, interestingly, i had recently read an article on it in MSDN and i told him how windows schdules threads. So overall it went good. Second interview was with some guy Fred, again from serviceability. He asked me a bit about my Final year project, my areas of interest in CS. i told him OS, AI and computer vision. He asked me to play checker board game with him. I won and he asked me what was my strategy. He then asked to come up with algo using which a computer can play checkerboard with human. It was game playing problem of AI. and i explained him Minimax algorithm in detail. Then, he gave me a question to code that multiple threads are trying to read a file and write a file at same time, write the file writing part routine.. I came up wth design in which instead of locking complete file, i locked chunks of file before writing and then i released that lock after writing. I feel that this interview went excellent considering the kind of game playing problem he asked me. Third interview was with Maneesh. My performance in this interview was just averag. Actually he asked me to implement post order traversal of BST iteratively. I first designed my algo before coding...I was doing it using two stacks.. but he wanted to be done using one stack. He then asked me to code node deletion in a linked list based on some value. i did it. He then asked me to tell test cases for DrawLine() function. I came up with no. of test cases and this part was OK. So overall the performance in this part was just OK. 4th was with the recruiter. She just asked those typical microsoft questions like what i want to join Microsoft? why not any ot
Thanks for sharing your experience. :) And if you do want to get into MS on your second shot, you'd better do away with writing M$. Of course, if you've shut the door on MS, it's an entirely different issue. :-D Vikram.
http://www.geocities.com/vpunathambekar "It's like hitting water with your fist. There's all sorts of motion and noise at impact, and no impression left whatsoever shortly thereafter." — gantww.
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I had my interview on 20th April at Dubai. M$ had arranged my one night stay + meals in a 5 start hotel in Dubai. Interviews started at 8:00 AM. In my session of interviews there were 6 people and among them 2 including myself had 5 interviews, 1 had 4 and rest had 3. Duration of each interview was 1 hour. The recuiter initially told that no. of interviews doesnot reflect anything.. But i think the more interviews they conduct, the more interested they are. So far max number of interviews in any of these interviews sessions was 5. My first interview was with a development manager from Windows serviceability group. He asked me about my current job project and then gave me producer consumer problem to code. i coded it using queue with linked list based implementation.then he asked to optimize for real time apps.. i did it.. then some technical questions like thread scheduling algos, interestingly, i had recently read an article on it in MSDN and i told him how windows schdules threads. So overall it went good. Second interview was with some guy Fred, again from serviceability. He asked me a bit about my Final year project, my areas of interest in CS. i told him OS, AI and computer vision. He asked me to play checker board game with him. I won and he asked me what was my strategy. He then asked to come up with algo using which a computer can play checkerboard with human. It was game playing problem of AI. and i explained him Minimax algorithm in detail. Then, he gave me a question to code that multiple threads are trying to read a file and write a file at same time, write the file writing part routine.. I came up wth design in which instead of locking complete file, i locked chunks of file before writing and then i released that lock after writing. I feel that this interview went excellent considering the kind of game playing problem he asked me. Third interview was with Maneesh. My performance in this interview was just averag. Actually he asked me to implement post order traversal of BST iteratively. I first designed my algo before coding...I was doing it using two stacks.. but he wanted to be done using one stack. He then asked me to code node deletion in a linked list based on some value. i did it. He then asked me to tell test cases for DrawLine() function. I came up with no. of test cases and this part was OK. So overall the performance in this part was just OK. 4th was with the recruiter. She just asked those typical microsoft questions like what i want to join Microsoft? why not any ot
You know, I consider myself a pretty good programmer and designer .. that is until I hear about interviews like this and I quickly realize I couldnt get past these tactics. Dont get me wrong, I'm not trying to slam Microsoft or any other company that uses these type of interviews. However, I wouldnt let it get you down that they didnt hire you ... the fact that you handled this situation so comfortably would indicate you are well prepared and will do well in this industry.
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Colin Angus Mackay wrote: You do realise that "M$" is disrespectful. Companies tend not to hire people that are disrepectful about them. Yeah i know that.. i am writing this after i got rejection from their side. Before that it was MS or Microsoft. Muhammad Shoaib Khan http://geocities.com/lansolution
Probably wise not to burn bridges all the same. Also why did you want to work at a company you now treat with scorn? regards, Paul Watson South Africa PMW Photography Gary Wheeler wrote: It's people like you that keep me heading for my big debut on CNN...
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This is wierd BGates is asking for more : End overseas hiring limits [^] The whole idea of the H1-B visa thing is, don't let too many smart people come into the country," Gates You have a one year of professional work (graduated 2004) and you still think it is not because others might have higher skills. :^):^) It is Illogical to define an inventor by his invention
Ghazi Al Wadi wrote: You have a one year of professional work (graduated 2004) and you still think it is not because others might have higher skills. Well others were also freshers or 1-2 year experience ppl,not gurus like you. Muhammad Shoaib Khan http://geocities.com/lansolution
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Probably wise not to burn bridges all the same. Also why did you want to work at a company you now treat with scorn? regards, Paul Watson South Africa PMW Photography Gary Wheeler wrote: It's people like you that keep me heading for my big debut on CNN...
Paul Watson wrote: Probably wise not to burn bridges all the same. Why don't you go read the Soapbox[^] if you want to talk about burning bridges? Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So i had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash 24/04/2004
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I had my interview on 20th April at Dubai. M$ had arranged my one night stay + meals in a 5 start hotel in Dubai. Interviews started at 8:00 AM. In my session of interviews there were 6 people and among them 2 including myself had 5 interviews, 1 had 4 and rest had 3. Duration of each interview was 1 hour. The recuiter initially told that no. of interviews doesnot reflect anything.. But i think the more interviews they conduct, the more interested they are. So far max number of interviews in any of these interviews sessions was 5. My first interview was with a development manager from Windows serviceability group. He asked me about my current job project and then gave me producer consumer problem to code. i coded it using queue with linked list based implementation.then he asked to optimize for real time apps.. i did it.. then some technical questions like thread scheduling algos, interestingly, i had recently read an article on it in MSDN and i told him how windows schdules threads. So overall it went good. Second interview was with some guy Fred, again from serviceability. He asked me a bit about my Final year project, my areas of interest in CS. i told him OS, AI and computer vision. He asked me to play checker board game with him. I won and he asked me what was my strategy. He then asked to come up with algo using which a computer can play checkerboard with human. It was game playing problem of AI. and i explained him Minimax algorithm in detail. Then, he gave me a question to code that multiple threads are trying to read a file and write a file at same time, write the file writing part routine.. I came up wth design in which instead of locking complete file, i locked chunks of file before writing and then i released that lock after writing. I feel that this interview went excellent considering the kind of game playing problem he asked me. Third interview was with Maneesh. My performance in this interview was just averag. Actually he asked me to implement post order traversal of BST iteratively. I first designed my algo before coding...I was doing it using two stacks.. but he wanted to be done using one stack. He then asked me to code node deletion in a linked list based on some value. i did it. He then asked me to tell test cases for DrawLine() function. I came up with no. of test cases and this part was OK. So overall the performance in this part was just OK. 4th was with the recruiter. She just asked those typical microsoft questions like what i want to join Microsoft? why not any ot
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The second IQ question is simple, but what's the answer for the first one?? You have to pick many, at average half of the fruits, to know it exactly, don't you??
answer is 1 fruit. Since all baskets have wrong label, i would just pick one fruit from mixed fruit label. If it is orange then it means that the one with label of apple has mix and the one with label orange has apples. :) Muhammad Shoaib Khan http://geocities.com/lansolution
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The second IQ question is simple, but what's the answer for the first one?? You have to pick many, at average half of the fruits, to know it exactly, don't you??
My first question would be, "Can't I just look in the baskets?" John
"You said a whole sentence with no words in it, and I understood you!" -- my wife as she cries about slowly becoming a geek. -
I had my interview on 20th April at Dubai. M$ had arranged my one night stay + meals in a 5 start hotel in Dubai. Interviews started at 8:00 AM. In my session of interviews there were 6 people and among them 2 including myself had 5 interviews, 1 had 4 and rest had 3. Duration of each interview was 1 hour. The recuiter initially told that no. of interviews doesnot reflect anything.. But i think the more interviews they conduct, the more interested they are. So far max number of interviews in any of these interviews sessions was 5. My first interview was with a development manager from Windows serviceability group. He asked me about my current job project and then gave me producer consumer problem to code. i coded it using queue with linked list based implementation.then he asked to optimize for real time apps.. i did it.. then some technical questions like thread scheduling algos, interestingly, i had recently read an article on it in MSDN and i told him how windows schdules threads. So overall it went good. Second interview was with some guy Fred, again from serviceability. He asked me a bit about my Final year project, my areas of interest in CS. i told him OS, AI and computer vision. He asked me to play checker board game with him. I won and he asked me what was my strategy. He then asked to come up with algo using which a computer can play checkerboard with human. It was game playing problem of AI. and i explained him Minimax algorithm in detail. Then, he gave me a question to code that multiple threads are trying to read a file and write a file at same time, write the file writing part routine.. I came up wth design in which instead of locking complete file, i locked chunks of file before writing and then i released that lock after writing. I feel that this interview went excellent considering the kind of game playing problem he asked me. Third interview was with Maneesh. My performance in this interview was just averag. Actually he asked me to implement post order traversal of BST iteratively. I first designed my algo before coding...I was doing it using two stacks.. but he wanted to be done using one stack. He then asked me to code node deletion in a linked list based on some value. i did it. He then asked me to tell test cases for DrawLine() function. I came up with no. of test cases and this part was OK. So overall the performance in this part was just OK. 4th was with the recruiter. She just asked those typical microsoft questions like what i want to join Microsoft? why not any ot
Question 1). I prefer bananas, thank you. :) Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] Remember that in Texas, Gun Control is hitting what you aim at. [Richard Stringer] Nice sig! [Tim Deveaux on Matt Newman's sig with a quote from me]
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You know, I consider myself a pretty good programmer and designer .. that is until I hear about interviews like this and I quickly realize I couldnt get past these tactics. Dont get me wrong, I'm not trying to slam Microsoft or any other company that uses these type of interviews. However, I wouldnt let it get you down that they didnt hire you ... the fact that you handled this situation so comfortably would indicate you are well prepared and will do well in this industry.
This is exactly why I refer to these as "lazy questions". I've been coding for 20+ years and know many programmers that are very talented individuals who've written some amazing systems and could not answer many of those of questions. The problem is that people are so into "textbook" questions that they don't take the time to look beyond that and attempt to determine more important, intangible issues such as willingness to learn, drive to succeed, desire to become better, ability to fit in with a team and so on. That's why when I interview, I always stress intelligence over knowledge. Most of those questions are knowledge-based and can be learned. However, intelligence is a measurement of aptitude in terms of what you can learn and in my opinion is a far better indicator of whether one will be successful. Cheers, Tom Archer - Archer Consulting Group
"Eat your brussel sprouts, Junior. There are starving Chinese American programmers that would kill for that food!" -
This is exactly why I refer to these as "lazy questions". I've been coding for 20+ years and know many programmers that are very talented individuals who've written some amazing systems and could not answer many of those of questions. The problem is that people are so into "textbook" questions that they don't take the time to look beyond that and attempt to determine more important, intangible issues such as willingness to learn, drive to succeed, desire to become better, ability to fit in with a team and so on. That's why when I interview, I always stress intelligence over knowledge. Most of those questions are knowledge-based and can be learned. However, intelligence is a measurement of aptitude in terms of what you can learn and in my opinion is a far better indicator of whether one will be successful. Cheers, Tom Archer - Archer Consulting Group
"Eat your brussel sprouts, Junior. There are starving Chinese American programmers that would kill for that food!"I agree with you 100%. For example, no one person is going to know every single aspect of Windows development. That's why there are resources such as CodeProject and MSDN available to us. That gives smart people the ability to acquire knowledge at the time it is required as opposed to having all this knowledge for a test. Brigg Thorp Senior Software Engineer Timex Corporation
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I agree with you 100%. For example, no one person is going to know every single aspect of Windows development. That's why there are resources such as CodeProject and MSDN available to us. That gives smart people the ability to acquire knowledge at the time it is required as opposed to having all this knowledge for a test. Brigg Thorp Senior Software Engineer Timex Corporation
Absolutely. Questions like the original posted mentioned are exactly why I shy away from interview where I know these types of questions will be asked. Not because - as a previous posted noted when I spoke on this subject - because I'm arrogant or I think I'm above being questioned. It's because I don't personally memorize this stuff. I simply work on too many languages and APIs to remember every aspect of each. As you noted, that's what documentation is for. To me the role of a developer is knowing how to combine these various technologies to create a solution; not memorizing things that are easily looked up. I wrote a 1200+ page book on VC++ and I'll freely admit that I frequently have to look things up in my own book. Or as I like to say, "I store pointers; not data". Cheers, Tom Archer - Archer Consulting Group
"Eat your brussel sprouts, Junior. There are starving Chinese children American programmers that would kill for that food!" -
Absolutely. Questions like the original posted mentioned are exactly why I shy away from interview where I know these types of questions will be asked. Not because - as a previous posted noted when I spoke on this subject - because I'm arrogant or I think I'm above being questioned. It's because I don't personally memorize this stuff. I simply work on too many languages and APIs to remember every aspect of each. As you noted, that's what documentation is for. To me the role of a developer is knowing how to combine these various technologies to create a solution; not memorizing things that are easily looked up. I wrote a 1200+ page book on VC++ and I'll freely admit that I frequently have to look things up in my own book. Or as I like to say, "I store pointers; not data". Cheers, Tom Archer - Archer Consulting Group
"Eat your brussel sprouts, Junior. There are starving Chinese children American programmers that would kill for that food!"Tom Archer wrote: I wrote a 1200+ page book on VC++ and I'll freely admit that I frequently have to look things up in my own book. You just took recursion to a whole new level. :) Jeremy Falcon