Microsoft Corporation Interview Questions, Process, and Tips

Q1. Related to Ability to handle Customer Query being Technically Sound and Improves Customer Experience
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Q2. There were 8 Different Types of Customer Technical Query and Behavior based Question.
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Q3. If Customer is Already Angry how will you make them calm.
Ans. 
I will listen to their concerns, empathize with them, and offer a solution to their problem.
• Acknowledge their frustration and apologize for any inconvenience caused

• Listen actively to their concerns and let them vent their frustrations

• Empathize with them and show that you understand their perspective

• Offer a solution to their problem and assure them that you will do everything possible to resolve the issue

• Follow up with ...read more
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Q4. What were your past experience related to handle someone's query.
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Q5. You as a Customer/User will need what kind of support if you're in place of Customer having support.
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

There were 3 coding questions of various difficulty level

Q1. 
LRU Cache Design Question
Design a data structure for a Least Recently Used (LRU) cache that supports the following operations:
1. get(key) - Return the value of the key if it exists in the cache; otherw...read more
Ans. 
Design a Least Recently Used (LRU) cache data structure that supports get and put operations with capacity constraint.
• Implement a doubly linked list to maintain the order of keys based on their recent usage.

• Use a hashmap to store key-value pairs for quick access and update.

• When capacity is reached, evict the least recently used item before inserting a new item.

• Update the order of keys in the linked list whenever a key ...read more
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Q2. 
Minimum Operations Problem Statement
You are given an array 'ARR' of size 'N' consisting of positive integers. Your task is to determine the minimum number of operations required to make all elements in t...read more
Ans. 
Determine minimum operations to make all array elements equal using addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.
• Iterate through array to find the maximum and minimum elements.

• Calculate the difference between maximum and minimum elements.

• The minimum number of operations needed is the difference between the maximum and minimum elements.
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Q3. 
N Queens Problem
Given an integer N, find all possible placements of N queens on an N x N chessboard such that no two queens threaten each other.
Explanation:
A queen can attack another queen if they ar...read more
Ans. 
The N Queens Problem involves finding all possible placements of N queens on an N x N chessboard without threatening each other.
• Use backtracking algorithm to explore all possible configurations

• Check if the current placement is safe by verifying rows, columns, and diagonals

• Print valid configurations where queens do not attack each other
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Round duration - 80 Minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

Asked various coding questions and their implementations

Q1. 
Number of Islands Problem Statement
You are provided with a 2-dimensional matrix having N rows and M columns, containing only 1s (land) and 0s (water). Your goal is to determine the number of islands in t...read more
Ans. 
Count the number of islands in a 2D matrix of 1s and 0s.
• Use Depth First Search (DFS) or Breadth First Search (BFS) to traverse the matrix and identify connected groups of 1s.

• Maintain a visited array to keep track of visited cells to avoid redundant traversal.

• Increment the island count each time a new island is encountered.
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Q2. 
Reverse Stack with Recursion
Reverse a given stack of integers using recursion. You must accomplish this without utilizing extra space beyond the internal stack space used by recursion. Additionally, you ...read more
Ans. 
Reverse a given stack of integers using recursion without using extra space or loops.
• Use recursion to pop all elements from the original stack and store them in function call stack.

• Once the stack is empty, push the elements back in reverse order using recursion.

• Make use of the top(), pop(), and push() stack methods provided.

• Example: If the input stack is [1, 2, 3], after reversal it should be [3, 2, 1].
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Q3. 
Pair Sum Problem Statement
You are given an integer array 'ARR' of size 'N' and an integer 'S'. Your task is to find and return a list of all pairs of elements where each sum of a pair equals 'S'.
Note:
...read more
Ans. 
Find pairs of elements in an array that sum up to a given value, sorted in a specific order.
• Iterate through the array and for each element, check if the complement (S - current element) exists in a set.

• If the complement exists, add the pair to the result list.

• Sort the result list based on the criteria mentioned in the problem statement.
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Round duration - 30 Minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

HR was very friendly

Round duration - 120 Minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

Total 3 coding questions were there, out of which I don't remember the last one.

Q1. 
Ninja's Dance Competition Pairing Problem
Ninja is organizing a dance competition and wants to pair participants using a unique method. Each participant chooses a number upon entry, and Ninja selects a nu...read more
Ans. 
Find the number of distinct pairs of participants with a given difference in their chosen numbers.
• Iterate through the list of numbers and check for pairs with the required difference 'K'.

• Use a hash set to keep track of unique pairs to avoid counting duplicates.

• Return the size of the hash set as the number of distinct pairs.
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Q2. 
Longest Common Prefix After Rotation
You are given two strings 'A' and 'B'. While string 'A' is constant, you may apply any number of left shift operations to string 'B'.
Explanation:
Your task is to calcu...read more
Ans. 
Calculate minimum left shift operations to achieve longest common prefix between two strings.
• Apply left shift operations to string B to find longest common prefix with string A

• Count number of shifts needed to achieve longest common prefix

• Handle circular rotation of characters in string B

• Return minimum number of left shift operations for each test case
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

Q1. 
Rotate Matrix by 90 Degrees Problem Statement
Given a square matrix 'MATRIX' of non-negative integers, rotate the matrix by 90 degrees in an anti-clockwise direction using only constant extra space.
Inpu...read more
Ans. 
Rotate a square matrix by 90 degrees in an anti-clockwise direction using constant extra space.
• Iterate through each layer of the matrix from outer to inner layers

• Swap elements in groups of 4 to rotate the matrix

• Handle odd-sized matrices separately by adjusting the loop boundaries
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Q2. 
Problem: Sort an Array of 0s, 1s, and 2s
Given an array/list ARR consisting of integers where each element is either 0, 1, or 2, your task is to sort this array in increasing order.
Input:
The input sta...read more
Ans. 
Sort an array of 0s, 1s, and 2s in increasing order.
• Use a three-pointer approach to partition the array into sections for 0s, 1s, and 2s.

• Iterate through the array and swap elements based on their values and the pointers.

• After sorting, the array will have 0s at the beginning, followed by 1s, and then 2s.
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

This was HR + Technical round
He started with questions on projects and Os and Dbms and Oops
Then asked one coding question

Q1. 
Number of Islands Problem Statement
You are given a non-empty grid that consists of only 0s and 1s. Your task is to determine the number of islands in this grid.
An island is defined as a group of 1s (re...read more
Ans. 
The task is to determine the number of islands in a grid of 0s and 1s connected horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
• Iterate through the grid and perform depth-first search (DFS) to find connected 1s forming islands

• Mark visited cells to avoid counting the same island multiple times

• Count the number of islands found during DFS traversal
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Round duration - 100 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

3 coding Questions:
1st : Easy question based on simple loop iteration
2nd : Medium level Data structure question 
3rd : Medium level tree question(where we were not just required to complete the tree function but to build whole best from 
scratch) 

It was conducted from 1:30 - 3:00 pm.
The coding platform was very good (as auto indentation and auto completion of brackets were there) having camera on.

Q1. 
Ninja and the Storyteller Problem
Ninja is eager to listen to stories from the renowned Storyteller of Ninjaland. The storyteller charges 'Y' coins per story. However, for every set of 'X' stories told, N...read more
Ans. 
Calculate the total number of stories a ninja can hear from a storyteller based on given conditions and constraints.
• Calculate the number of stories Ninja can buy with available coins and without free stories.

• Calculate the number of free stories Ninja can get based on the number of stories bought.

• Add the total number of bought and free stories to get the final result.
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Q2. 
Buy and Sell Stock Problem Statement
You are tasked to help a friend with stock trading for the next 'N' days. He can either buy or sell a stock, with the condition that he can complete at most 2 transact...read more
Ans. 
Determine maximum profit from at most 2 stock transactions over 'N' days.
• Iterate through the prices array to find the maximum profit from 2 transactions.

• Keep track of the maximum profit by buying and selling stocks at the right times.

• Consider edge cases like when there are no profitable transactions.
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Round duration - 90 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

This was a completely technical coding round where I was asked to solve the problems of data structures.

Q1. 
Minimum Cost Path Problem Statement
Given an integer matrix with dimensions m x n, determine the minimum cost required to reach from the cell (0, 0) to the cell (m-1, n-1).
You are allowed to move from a...read more
Ans. 
The problem involves finding the minimum cost path in a matrix by moving right, down, or diagonally down-right.
• Use dynamic programming to keep track of the minimum cost at each cell

• Consider the three possible directions for movement and calculate the cost accordingly

• Start from the top-left cell and iterate through the matrix to find the minimum cost path
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Q2. 
Time to Burn Tree Problem
You are given a binary tree consisting of 'N' unique nodes and a start node where the burning will commence. The task is to calculate the time in minutes required to completely b...read more
Ans. 
Calculate the time in minutes required to completely burn a binary tree starting from a given node.
• Traverse the tree to find the start node and calculate the time for fire to spread to all nodes

• Use a queue to keep track of nodes to be burned next

• Increment time for each level of nodes burned until the entire tree is burnt
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Round duration - 20 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

It was held on Google meet platform
The interviewer was very experienced person and was very nice too.
He made me comfortable by first introducing himself in a very detailed way and then asking me mine introduction
Since I feel that his internet connection was not very good so he turned off his camera but I decided not to turn off mine as in online interviews your face reviles your confidence 
the interviewer mostly asked me questions about my interests in technical field and the project that I have done

Round duration - 90 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

It started in the evening from around 6 pm and the total duration was 90 minutes. There were 3 coding questions of medium difficulty level. I think from a set of 10-12 questions, each student was given 3 questions randomly from that set. So it was somewhat luck dependent too if you get easy or difficult questions. Tab switching was not allowed during the test, also it was proctored through webcam.

Q1. 
Longest Palindromic Subsequence Problem Statement
Given a string A consisting of lowercase English letters, determine the length of the longest palindromic subsequence within A.
Explanation:
• A subsequ...read more
Ans. 
The problem involves finding the length of the longest palindromic subsequence in a given string of lowercase English letters.
• Iterate through the string and create a 2D array to store the lengths of palindromic subsequences for each substring.

• Use dynamic programming to fill the array based on the characters in the string.

• Consider the base cases where the length of the substring is 1 or 2.

• Update the array based on wheth...read more
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Q2. 
Find K'th Character of Decrypted String
You are given an encrypted string where repeated substrings are represented by the substring followed by its count. Your task is to find the K'th character of the d...read more
Ans. 
Given an encrypted string with repeated substrings represented by counts, find the K'th character of the decrypted string.
• Parse the encrypted string to extract substrings and their counts

• Iterate through the decrypted string to find the K'th character

• Handle cases where counts are more than one digit or in parts
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Q3. 
Maximum Subarray Sum Problem Statement
Given an array arr of length N consisting of integers, find the sum of the subarray (including empty subarray) with the maximum sum among all subarrays.
Explanation...read more
Ans. 
Find the sum of the subarray with the maximum sum among all subarrays in an array of integers.
• Iterate through the array and keep track of the maximum sum subarray seen so far.

• Use Kadane's algorithm to efficiently find the maximum subarray sum.

• Consider the case where all elements in the array are negative.

• Handle the case where the array contains only one element.
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Round duration - 50 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

It was held on the Microsoft teams platform. It started at 5 pm in the evening and lasted till around 5:50 pm. It started with me giving a general introduction about what I had done till now in my college. After that, he started with the coding problems.

Q1. 
Total Area of Overlapping Rectangles Problem Statement
Determine the total area covered by two given rectangles on a 2-D coordinate plane, which may have an overlapping area.
Input:
The first line conta...read more
Ans. 
Calculate the total area covered by two overlapping rectangles on a 2-D coordinate plane.
• Parse input coordinates for two rectangles

• Calculate the area of each rectangle

• Find the overlapping area by determining the intersection of the rectangles

• Calculate the total area by adding the areas of both rectangles and subtracting the overlapping area
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Q2. Can you explain the basic theory behind mutexes and semaphores?
Ans. 
Mutexes and semaphores are synchronization mechanisms used in concurrent programming to control access to shared resources.
• Mutexes are used to provide mutual exclusion, allowing only one thread to access a resource at a time.

• Semaphores can be used to control access to a resource by multiple threads, with the ability to allow a certain number of threads to access it simultaneously.

• Mutexes are binary semaphores with a lo...read more
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Round duration - 50 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

The pattern was similar to the previous round. I started with my general introduction after which he proceeded to problem-solving. Also, there was some discussion about the projects I had done previously and also about my previous internship experience.

Q1. 
Find All Triplets with Zero Sum
Given an array Arr consisting of N integers, find all distinct triplets in the array that sum up to zero.
Explanation:
An array is said to have a triplet {Arr[i], Arr[j],...read more
Ans. 
Find all distinct triplets in an array that sum up to zero.
• Use a nested loop to iterate through all possible triplets.

• Sort the array to easily identify duplicates and skip them.

• Use two-pointer technique to find the remaining element for each pair.

• Handle edge cases like duplicates and empty list of triplets.

• Return the list of triplets found in any order.
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

It was a hiring drive for women. Interviewer was experienced person.

Q1. 
Construct Binary Tree from Inorder and Preorder Traversal
Given the preorder and inorder traversal sequences of a binary tree, your task is to construct the binary tree using these traversals.
Input:
Th...read more
Ans. 
Yes, it is possible to achieve a solution with O(N) time complexity using a hashmap to store the indices of elements in the inorder traversal.
• Use a hashmap to store the indices of elements in the inorder traversal for quick lookup.

• Recursively build the binary tree by selecting the root node from the preorder traversal and finding its index in the inorder traversal.

• Divide the inorder traversal into left and right subtre...read more
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Q1. 
Cash Flow Minimization Problem
You are presented with a list of financial transactions among ‘n’ friends, where each transaction specifies who pays whom and how much. The objective is to minimize the cash...read more
Ans. 
The problem involves minimizing cash flow among friends by reorganizing debts through direct transfers or reducing total transactions.
• Given a list of financial transactions among 'n' friends, where each transaction specifies who pays whom and how much.

• Objective is to minimize the cash flow among the friends by reorganizing debts through direct transfers or reducing total transactions.

• Output a 2-D matrix showing the opt...read more
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Q1. 
Total Strings Problem Description
Given a positive integer N, your task is to determine the number of strings of length N that can be created using only the characters 'a', 'b', and 'c'. The strings must a...read more
Ans. 
The problem involves determining the number of strings of length N that can be created using only the characters 'a', 'b', and 'c', with constraints on the number of 'b' and 'c' allowed.
• Use dynamic programming to count the number of valid strings for each length N.

• Consider the constraints on the number of 'b' and 'c' allowed in each string.

• Implement a function to calculate the result modulo 1000000007.

• For N = 2, valid ...read more
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Q1. 
Ninja and the Tree: Correcting a Mistaken Binary Search Tree
Ninja is exploring the data structure of trees and while learning about Binary Search Trees (BST), she created her own. However, she unknowingl...read more
Ans. 
Identify and reverse the swap in a Binary Search Tree to recover the original structure.
• Identify the two nodes that are swapped in the Binary Search Tree.

• Swap the two nodes to restore the Binary Search Tree integrity.

• Ensure that the left subtree of a node contains only nodes with data less than the node's data, and the right subtree contains only nodes with data greater than the node's data.
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Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Hiring manager round

Q1. 
Maximum Meetings Problem Statement
Given the schedule of N meetings with their start time Start[i] and end time End[i], you need to determine which meetings can be organized in a single meeting room such ...read more
Ans. 
Given N meetings with start and end times, find the maximum number of meetings that can be organized in a single room without overlap.
• Sort the meetings based on their end times.

• Iterate through the sorted meetings and select the first meeting that doesn't overlap with the previous one.

• Repeat the process until all meetings are considered.

• Return the selected meetings in the order they are organized.
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