Microsoft Software Engineer Technical Screen Questions
24+ questions from real Microsoft Software Engineer Technical Screen rounds, reported by candidates who interviewed there.
What does the Microsoft Technical Screen round test?
The Microsoft technical screen covers core Software Engineer skills in a structured interview format. Candidates should expect a mix of coding problems, technical knowledge questions, and scenario-based discussions.
Top Topics in This Round
Microsoft Software Engineer Technical Screen Questions
I need help preparing for a Microsoft IC6 Technical Assessment - I have three days...
Honestly, I have no idea how i got the interview. I have been randomly applying for places the last month or so after not interviewing for almost a decade. I've changed jobs 4-5 times over my career,
Microsoft SE 2 (IC3) Technical Interview Experience
**Problem Statement** Given $n$ log servers, where each server holds multiple log files already sorted by timestamp, the objective is to merge all files from all servers into a single output stream th
Microsoft Technical Interview Experience – Graph BFS Priority Queue
Following a shortlist by the recruiter, two technical interviews were scheduled for October 28, 2025. The first round lasted one hour and focused on a graph algorithm challenge with a supportive inter
Microsoft rejected after 4 rounds
Recently, I have completed 4 interview rounds at Microsoft, and I though I have aced all the rounds by optimal solutions and solutions for the follow up questions. Today HR have reached me and said th
Online Round :Online Round was conducted on mettl platform1. Simple Array manipulation question2.https://www.codechef.com/problems/ENCD123. Simple dp questionGroup Fly Rou...
Coding Round : Binary tree was given. Return a tree such that each internal node stores sum of all its child nodes. Each leaf node stores zero. One DP question : htt...
Create Excel Like App
what data structure will be used to create a application like excel. We need to support. GetCellData SetCellData DeleteCell - this shoud come up with an option move content left or up. Any idea...
For my internship appliaction, I received slight variants of the following problems: 242. Valid Anagram: Given 2 strings s and t, return true if they are anagrams of each other. s...
I recently interviewed for an entry-level Software Engineer role at Microsoft, and as there are not many posts talking about NA experiences, I thought I\u2019d share my experience. I recieved...
30 minutes interview with a member of the team. After a short introduction, I had to solve a problem. You are given two 8-characters long strings made of A, G, C...
Blueflame Labs Interview
Today, I attended my first technical interview in virtual mode,through Microsoft Teams Meeting Platform. 1) Introduce Yourself 2) Do you worked on any project?explain Your role in that. 3) Interviwer the asked...
Microsoft Interview Questions - 2022
Hi folks, Went through the last few months of interview questions being asked by microsoft and compiled them into a list based upon the DS / Algorithms. Microsoft Questions - 2022 The questions...
Microsoft | SWE New Grad | India | PPO Offer
As written in the title I did an internship with Microsoft India in summer of \'22 and got the PPO. Number of rounds : 3(Presentation, Technical, AA(As Appropriate)) Presentation: This is a...
YOE: 3+ years Education: B.Tech in CS Tier 1 Round1: Coding & basic questions 1.Decode a string recursively encoded as count followed by substring \t\tInput : str[] = "2[a2[b]]" \t\tOutput : abbabb 2. What is the...
My 12 Months Coding Journey || 750+ Questions || Leetcode 2093 || Codeforces 1563 || Codechef 1963
I am currently a 4th year undergraduate at one of the new IIIT. I started my DSA journey on 19th Dec 2021. -> I started quite late with coding as I...
You are given a binary matrix (with 1\'s and 0\'s) of size n x n. you have to divide the matrix into 4 sections by dividing it by one row...
Microsoft SDE VO Coding
Design a data structure so it has two functions .set(key, val) and .get(key) where the key is in double so there could be millions of data to be inserted. design a...
Microsoft VO Question
Implement a data structure that can support the following operations: \t(1) Insert a key-value pair \t(2) Delete a key \t(3) Increase/Decrease the value associated with a key (note that the increase/decrease amount can...
Microsoft - Hyderabad - SDE - Interview Experience
First Round - Coding Question - You are given a input word and a set of tokens. return true if the input word can be split into the tokens else...
Design Question | Microsoft | Suggestions?
I saw this on GFG Design the data structure such we can perform operation insertFirst(value):- value inserted head of the list Time Complexity O(1) insertLast(value):- value inserted last of the list Time Complexity...
What to Expect in the Microsoft Technical Screen Round
The Microsoft Software Engineer Technical Screen round has a specific calibration purpose distinct from other rounds in the loop. Across 24+ verified reports on LeakCode for this exact round type, the consistent expectations: clear scoping of the problem before diving into a solution, explicit reasoning about complexity, structured handling of edge cases, and the ability to discuss trade-offs between two reasonable approaches.
Reports tagged with the Technical Screen round at Microsoft show recurring patterns in difficulty and topic distribution. The Technical Screen round is typically 45-60 minutes; the interviewer is calibrated against a specific rubric. The discriminator between candidates who advance and candidates who do not is rarely the final correctness of the answer. It is the path: did you clarify, did you verbalize your approach, did you handle edge cases, and did you communicate throughout.
How To Prepare for This Specific Round
Filter the questions below to the most recent reports (past 6-12 months). Questions tagged for this exact round type from this exact company at this exact role level are the highest-signal data available. Older reports may reference questions that have since rotated out of the company's pool.
Practice 4-6 representative problems from this set under timed conditions. The goal is not memorization (companies rotate questions); the goal is to internalize the patterns the interviewer typically reaches for and the depth of follow-up to expect. Reports on LeakCode also tag the typical follow-up depth at this round type, which is the discriminating signal between hire and no-hire calibration.
Technical Screen Round Timing and Format
The Technical Screen round at Microsoft typically runs 45-60 minutes. Use the first 2-3 minutes to clarify requirements; you should never start coding or designing without verifying the input/output format, constraints, and edge cases out loud. Use the next 5-7 minutes to verbalize your approach before writing any code. The middle 20-30 minutes are implementation. Reserve the final 10 minutes for testing with concrete examples and discussing optimization or trade-offs.
Time budget discipline is one of the most reliable senior-vs-junior discriminators in this round. Strong candidates verbalize where they are in their budget out loud ("I've used about 20 minutes, I have 15 minutes left for testing and one optimization"). This signals engineering maturity to the interviewer and creates positive feedback they can capture in writing.
Common Failure Modes in This Round
Reports tagged "no hire" at Microsoft Software Engineer Technical Screen commonly cite: coding silently without verbalizing approach, jumping to implementation before clarifying requirements, missing edge cases (empty input, single element, very large input), producing working code that the candidate cannot refactor when asked, and failing to test their solution with concrete examples before declaring done.
The single most predictive failure mode in 2025-2026 reports: not asking clarifying questions. Interviewers at all FAANG companies are explicitly trained to weight this dimension. Strong candidates ask 3-5 clarifying questions even on problems that look obvious; weak candidates dive into code immediately. The clarifying-question check is often the first signal recorded in the interviewer's notes.
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