Ali\’s Space

Microsoft Phone Interview Tips

I wanted to give people some tips for interviewing at Microsoft (or anywhere else for that matter) in order to help them out.

Phone Interview

• Seclude Yourself. I think it is important to be in a room by yourself without any distractions and little or no noise. If there is anyone else with you in the house, make sure they know not to disturb you.

• Walk Around. I personally can not sit down while conducting a phone interview. I have to be pacing around. It gets the blood pumping and keeps you sharp and alert. It also makes your voice sound more active (rather than relaxed).

• Guide the Conversation. Try to lead the interviewer to your positive traits and the things that you want to emphasize. Try to think of answers to common questions, which you can use to your advantage.

• Be Prepared. Make sure you have a pen and paper handy with you. In a Microsoft phone interview you will more than likely need it in order to do the technical/programming questions. It can’t hurt to have it.

• Prepare Questions Beforehand. If you have any questions that you think you may want to ask, you should have them prepared beforehand on a paper. I recommend you do try to think of some questions and ask them, because at the very least it shows you are interested in the position. Also, you can use the pen and paper you have prepared to write down the responses.

• Sound Passionate. Foremost, Microsoft looks for people who are passionate about technology, programming, and development. I think if you sound passionate, have a good technical background and skills that you stand a good shot at making it. If you act or sound indifferent, you may be giving your interviewers the wrong impression.

This post is pretty long, so I will write more later about how I prepared for my interview and what sources I used.

The actual on-site Microsoft Interview

I left off the last post with having good phone interviews with both Microsoft and Amazon, but they were unable to proceed with me due to a lack of visas. My only two hopes were, the position(s) would still be open in Jan 2006 (when they said they would contact me), or the team from Microsoft coming to Egypt would contact me to schedule an interview.

A couple of months later, I was checking my junk e-mail and noticed a couple of mails from Microsoft. One of them, they had tried to schedule a phone interview with me, and the date had elapsed, and then another one trying to schedule a new one. I quickly added the microsoft.com domain to my email safe-list, and responded.

I had a phone interview scheduled with Priya Priyadarshini, one of the Microsoft International Recruiters (and now a blogger on JobsBlog). It wasn’t too difficult now that I knew what to expect and I had done well on the other phone interviews, so my nerves were a bit calmer. Towards the end though, I recall getting a Microsoft puzzle questions. It was very simple and straight forward (involved getting socks in the dark from a drawer). I misunderstood the question though and gave some ridiculous answer. I was told that I had done great so far, and that she would give me one more chance to answer…so I knew I was wrong, and I felt like this question could blow my chances, so I became nervous again. She repeated the question to me very slowly, and I realized she was asking something very different than what I thought (it was much simpler!) But now I began to doubt myself in case I misunderstood her again (I didn’t think it could be that simple). But it was 🙂

I waited some more after the phone interview, and then I got an email informing me that I had been selected to be interviewed when the recruiting team came to Egypt. It would be at the beautiful Four Seasons Nile Plaza. My timing was at 8am on a Friday. I found out (from friends interviewing) that they were coming only for 2 days of interviews and they have morning and evening sessions and about 5-6 people per session. So that meant I got a spot in a max of 24 possible interview spots, which made me feel good that I had gotten this far.

I went on Friday at 8am. The roads were deserted (as Friday is a weekend in Egypt). I had images of my car breaking down on the way (it has a habit of doing that!) Then I began to worry that I would go to the wrong Four Seasons (we have two that are very close by to each other). But finally I got there, and I found 5 other guys searching for the room where we would do our interviews.

We found a main suite room where we would sit, and where there were plenty of refreshments (tea, coffee, cake, soft drinks, cookies, muffins, fresh juices, etc.) It was actually a very nice set up. The team interviewing us would be the Windows Serviceability Group (who are responsible for the service pack and hotfixes of the latest Windows release).

I started off my day with interviewing with Holly Peterson (International Recruiter/Talent Scout). It was simple, and there were no complicated programming problems. One of the questions involved her handing me an inanimate object and asking me how would I test it (a Microsoft favorite I believe). I also got a couple puzzle questions at the end which I was able to nail.

I had two other interviews which were a lot tougher than anything I had experienced. There were no whiteboards, so I wrote my code using pencil and paper. In between interviews we would all go back to our initial room and sit together, while the recruiters/hiring managers would go discuss the results. We were (obviously) not allowed to talk or discuss the interview questions together.  But people were coming back with very negative results, complaining of how brutal the interviewers were, how difficult the questions were, and how they had many bugs in their algorithms which were pointed out to them. I didn’t feel or get any of the same results so I was hoping I was doing good at this point in time.

After 3 interviews, they sent everybody else home, and asked me to stay for further interviews. I felt that this was a good sign. I went in, to what would be my last interview for the day. I had spoken too soon 🙂 It was brutal. The interviewer asked me a question, and then attacked my answer which shook my confidence in the answer. In hindsight, I think he was trying to probe my weaknesses and see if I could stick to and back up my answers, which I don’t think I adequately did. At this point they thanked me for my time, and said they would be in touch in 2 weeks with the results.

I really was disappointed at this point in time as I felt I blew it in the last interview. I figured, I did my best though and that I could still try to pursue my possible interview in January with the Microsoft Speech Server group if things didn’t work out here.

It was an agonizing wait. I remember the day the results got emailed. The subject said ‘Microsoft Interview Results’ and I was afraid to open it. My wife thought I was being silly and came and opened it for me (I think she was dying to see the results more than me though!) I saw the words ‘Congratulations’ and that I had been accepted.

This is so far one of the proudest accomplishments of my career and I am real excited and looking forward to working at Microsoft.

I will attempt to write in the future some tips and advice that I would recommend for conducting Microsoft Interviews.

The Road to the Microsoft Interviews

I do not know when exactly I decided that I was interested in applying for Microsoft, but I remember my wife encouraging me to apply. I had heard that Microsoft was asking for CVs from people in Egypt and they were considering to come to conduct interviews through a couple of sources.

I sent my CV off to the indicated address and got an automated acknowledgement response. Then silence…

I am sometimes not very patient, so I started applying online at Microsoft to other openings. I searched all possible openings that I felt I was qualified for and that I found interesting and submitted my CV for these positions.

There was also some silence for a while, but then I finally got a response from a hiring manager that seemed interested. She was an SDET Lead for the Microsoft Speech Server group. I told her I was very interested and we scheduled a phone interview.

As this was my first ever phone interview it was a very nerve-wracking experience. Not to mention I was unsure of how exactly I would code over the phone. I also did a bit of preparing beforehand (studied algorithms, etc.) as I knew it would probably be a bit technical. When the time came, I sat in a quiet room in the house by myself and I made sure I had a pen and paper handy. When the phone call came, I was all set and it went well. I got the typical interview questions at the start, so it put me at ease and made it easier for me to go on, and then we got into some technical questions. I do not remember what they were as it was a long time ago but it was simple. One of the things that I had learnt from the excellent JobsBlog was to show my thought processes, and when designing an algorithm to show that I am taking into account everything (e.g. security, performance, bad data, globalization, etc.)

Also, while I was in an ‘looking for a new job’ mood, I decided to also apply to Amazon. I liked Washington as a state and decided if I get a new job, this is where I wanted to be. My first priority was going to Microsoft to be honest, but I was also interested in the things that go on at Amazon and I certainly would have been happy to also work for them.

They were very quick in their response (I got an Interview request almost the next day). I felt very unprepared and hurried, but I figured I could handle it. I scheduled a phone interview. It was also technical and very similar to the Microsoft one. I thought the technical questions were slightly tougher but I made it through. The guy seemed impressed and said I can expect a second interview (Amazon has a policy of two phone interviews and then one on-site). The 2nd phone interview I felt was a lot tougher. It was hard to read or get a positive response from the interviewer. There was also a question I struggled with, but I felt I got it at the end. He told me I should get a response from them in a couple of days with the results.

In all my phone interviews, apparently I had done well and they were all interested (both Microsoft, and Amazon) but since I was applying in approximately Oct-Nov 2005, there were no H-1B visas, so even if I was hired, they couldn’t bring me. They (both) informed me, that it was too early for an on-site interview due to this reason, and they could see about doing further interviews in 2006.

So my hopes were dashed for the time being, and still no news from the International Recruiting team that was supposed to be coming to Egypt…

I think this is a good place to stop, and I will continue in my next post the rest of the story.