really liked the first rounds of interview but had a bad experience with the coding interviews on prem. First exercise was easy so i tried to make something perfect but the interviewer expected me to be faster, second exercise i was given some constraints that i took very seriously but the interviewer expected a response that only loosely followed them. It felt unfair to be rejected over this
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
1) maze exploration 2) basic structures 3) designing a distributed system
I applied online. I interviewed at Microsoft (Melbourne)
Interview
After submitting an online application, I received a HackerRank assessment after passing the resume screening stage, then I was rejected after completing the assessment and did not proceed to further interview rounds.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The assessment consisted of two LeetCode-medium-level coding questions to be completed within 75 minutes.
45 mins technical interview with a member of their San fran team. Very relaxed and informal but questions were focused and lots of follow ups. Easy to schedule as was over video conferencing platform
Straightforward technical loop overall, with strong interviewers at every stage. I genuinely enjoyed the in-depth conversations around technical challenges and algorithmic problem-solving — the entire process felt well-structured and genuinely engaging.