I submitted my resume online through the Micro website. Several months later I received an email for a phone interview. The interview was about half an hour and we mostly discussed previous projects of mine-- there were a few questions to pick my brain and hear thought processes. The interviewer of course asked about prior experience as well.

Interview process was very pleasant. I had a single phone interview (problem solving in nature) and was then flown out to Redmond a month or so later. Microsoft gives you plenty of resources to do the things you want while you're out there, so take advantage of it. They'll pay for cab fares, but I recommend getting a rental, to make sure that you're on time to wherever you need to be. On the interview day, I was shuttled to HQ with a group of other candidates (about 15 others). We had lunch and learned about the interview process. There were a total of 4 45 minute interviews, each with a different person. Each interview was pretty similar: about 15 minutes getting to know you and about 30 minutes of coding/problem solving. The questions weren't too bad...make sure your answers are geared towards a testing standpoint.

I had an on-campus screen and didn't feel that I performed very well, especially with the behavioral questions. Nevertheless, I got an email inviting me to interview in Redmond, WA. The day of the interview, I was nervous, but excited and enthused. My optimism and cheer carried me throughout the day. Everyone I met was so nice and genuine, and declined all phone calls and texts to give me their full attention. One of my interviewers gave me a hard time for not understanding his instructions for testing an algorithm I wrote, but I kept a smile on my face, took his criticism, and ended up giving my own good insight on the solution. I solved every problem during the day, although I didn't always get the best solution the first time. I was very thorough in my testing of each algorithm. I was very excited to find out that I would be getting a 4th interview, which was with a manager. The function I had to code during this 4th interview was fairly straightforward. It was also easy to test. Regarding the culture, as I said, everyone was very genuine and attentive. These were all people I would be excited to work with, and I had some pretty good banter with most of them. I got the affirmative interview results soon after. I had a great time in Seattle, and Microsoft of course paid all the expenses.