(I realize this is way past due…but with the coming/going of ending classes, exams, and beach week, I’ve been rather busy!)
I arrived on Microsoft’s Campus 30 minutes before my interview. I’d read several places that it was good to arrive early and attempt to take some of the shock off, so I did. I drove around to look at some of the buildings. The campus, as Microsoft calls it, is gorgeous. All the buildings look alike, and are numbered. As I drove around, I noticed two huge, perfect condition soccer fields in the middle of the campus – looks as if Microsoft has some soccer fans.
I arrived to Building 19, the infamous employment building, and went into the main office. I’d watched a video informing how the interview process went (I’ll have to find the link…), which helped me greatly. I registered with the front desk, filled out a little bit of paperwork, and sat awaiting my personal recruiter. I noticed an XBOX stand, and instead of watching CNN or just sitting and waiting, I played some XBOX to kill some nerves – would you expect any less? Within 5 minutes of my meeting time, my recruiter came and got me.
First Interview – 30 minutes
My first interview was with my personal recruiter. I read multiple places not to take this lightly, and that the recruiter does have a say in your hiring. She was a very nice lady, young, and asked me the typical questions. “Why do you want to work at Microsoft?” “How did you get involved with computers?” … she then informed me that I’d be interviewing with one group, the Windows Component Platform group, and told me of my first interview. It was in another building, so she called a shuttle and off I was…
Second Interview – 1 hour
I began to relax a bit after the first interview (which is probably the point), but was still really nervous coming into my first interview. I met with a program manager on the Group, and he was an extremely nice guy. He asked a few simple questions, wanted to get to know me, and even had my website up as he was talking to me and was commenting on it. This interview went perfect – I can’t imagine it going any better. He informed me of what the group was all about. He then asked me design level questions, for which I feel I answered really well. They were questions on par with my CS 340 class, so I felt really prepared. Things like “What would be the requirements for a server doing this…” and “What would you need to think about in this situation?” He also probed me on my class and what we did, as well as some resume stuff. He then asked me two brain teasers, which thanks to my preparation for, I got both correct. All in all, at the end of the interview, I felt I did great. He went and talked to my next interviewer, then passed me along.
Third Interview – 1 hour
I was more confident going into this interview, which may have been a downfall. This was by far my toughest interview. The man was British and had a noticeable accent. He was nice, but much tougher. He drilled me about my resume and some simple questions, then asked me to act as a Program Manager working on a team of Developers and Testers. He asked me to lay out the schedule and plan it out, and then drilled me with situational events and how I’d respond. He role played a bit as well, acting as a tester and complaining to me about a developer and seeing how I’d respond. While there were no right or wrong answers to his interview and questions, I don’t believe I impressed him at all. It may have been my overconfidence, or perhaps just a mental lapse, but I didn’t perform well in this interview. A large part of the problem was that the material he interviewed me with wasn’t from a textbook or couldn’t be taught – it was experience and jobs that best prepared you for it. He would tell me this – but then say he wanted to see if I could take the knowledge I had and apply and use it in these situations. Overall, I was not happy with this interview…
Fourth Interview – 45 minutes
This interview was the easiest of the three – I wasn’t sure if the previous interviewer asked him to dumb it down, or he was just easier/slack, but it was almost a cakewalk. The interviewer was a graduate from Georgia Tech – yet he wasn’t even sure if UVA was in the ACC (oh computer nerds…). He also had family from Norfolk – so we were able to talk about the area a bit. He asked me simple questions – mostly related to my resume, my interests, and situational “why do you want to do this? Why be a PM?” etc… overall I felt I impressed him, but I couldn’t get a good feel… he had to leave early for a meeting, so the meeting ended up 15 minutes early..
Fifth Interview – 1 hour
This was the pinnacle moment in the day – always hearing “You get a minimum of 3 interviews…” I wasn’t sure if I’d get a fourth or not. It so seemed I needed another (for better or worse) as I met with my fourth interviewer. This guy was very nice, seemed very smart, but definitely tough. He asked me hard questions like “What’s your biggest dislike of Windows XP?” and then asked me to dissect how if I was a program manager I’d fix it. We then ventured into “Where will Microsoft be in the next 5/10 years? What will be the NEW technology?” This is a question I should have thought/prepared for, and honestly, wasn’t sure how to respond. I rambled around with a few answers, for which he helped me out, but he really kept inquiring about more. He was tough. At the end of the interview, I asked him what his role was in the group. This was a mistake not to ask at the beginning. It turned out he was the lead Program Manager of the entire group… he was the head boss essentially. When I heard this at the end of the interview, I could almost hear myself gulp. I was happy to had made the interview with him, but was a bit worried about how it went…
After a grueling day of interviews, I got in my rental car and went home. They informed me I’d know within a week, so I had to play the waiting game. I ate at a restaurant next door (which MS picked up the tab), watched a movie in the hotel, and then slept. I had an early flight out the next morning.
