Skip to main content

Microsoft Interview Questions

Review this list of 261 Microsoft interview questions and answers verified by hiring managers and candidates.
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    7 answers
    +4

    "For self achievement, The product manager builds useful products for users and makes the world better. For the team, The product manager can work with the team, and leverage the team resources to make things happen, which is more impactful. For the company, Pm are usually problem solvers, help companies to solve problems and grow better "

    Shen W. - "For self achievement, The product manager builds useful products for users and makes the world better. For the team, The product manager can work with the team, and leverage the team resources to make things happen, which is more impactful. For the company, Pm are usually problem solvers, help companies to solve problems and grow better "See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    5 answers
    Video answer for 'Design a refrigerator for kids.'
    +2

    "I have a few clarifying questions before diving into designing a fridge for kids. What is this company in? - Startup exploring ideas to design fridge, or an already established fridge company - Startup Kids = which age group is referred to her or I can define the user segments? -* You can define it* Where is the refrigerator being used (household/school/daycare)? - Household Assumption: I am assuming Fridge's basic function is to freeze meats/ice cream/veggies etc and stor"

    Manu G. - "I have a few clarifying questions before diving into designing a fridge for kids. What is this company in? - Startup exploring ideas to design fridge, or an already established fridge company - Startup Kids = which age group is referred to her or I can define the user segments? -* You can define it* Where is the refrigerator being used (household/school/daycare)? - Household Assumption: I am assuming Fridge's basic function is to freeze meats/ice cream/veggies etc and stor"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Product Design
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    1 answer
    Video answer for 'How would you improve your favorite product?'

    "When a question like this is asked what is really being asked is "how do you think about the elements that make up a product and how does each part add value?". I generally try to answer it with a feature that has to do with user interaction. Good answers to this question could include "I would add a button to edit a post, and make it more visible and accessible rather than buried in a menu". Your rationale might be "**because it encourages users to post without fear that they will make"

    Sydney S. - "When a question like this is asked what is really being asked is "how do you think about the elements that make up a product and how does each part add value?". I generally try to answer it with a feature that has to do with user interaction. Good answers to this question could include "I would add a button to edit a post, and make it more visible and accessible rather than buried in a menu". Your rationale might be "**because it encourages users to post without fear that they will make"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Product Design
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    1 answer

    "I talked about a time that my manager had a better understanding of something than me and that I had to start to ask him what he knew about a certain type of thing once I was getting work assigned"

    Anonymous Cheetah - "I talked about a time that my manager had a better understanding of something than me and that I had to start to ask him what he knew about a certain type of thing once I was getting work assigned"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Behavioral
    +1 more
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    22 answers
    +19

    "First I will talk about this restaurant space in general. Types of restaurants, trends, think about how we can offer something that is differentiated to a viable buyer. Vision / mission of this product User segments - pick one Define user goals, user journey, needs/pain points Think about solutions to their pain points (10 min) Then I’d pick one or two of the solutions and define the features in more detail, as it ties to user journey. I’ll define tradeoffs **1.Restaurant sp"

    Yespm T. - "First I will talk about this restaurant space in general. Types of restaurants, trends, think about how we can offer something that is differentiated to a viable buyer. Vision / mission of this product User segments - pick one Define user goals, user journey, needs/pain points Think about solutions to their pain points (10 min) Then I’d pick one or two of the solutions and define the features in more detail, as it ties to user journey. I’ll define tradeoffs **1.Restaurant sp"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Product Design
  • 🧠 Want an expert answer to a question? Saving questions lets us know what content to make next.

  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    14 answers
    Video answer for 'How would you store a list of numbers as a single number?'
    +7

    "First thing the interviewee did wrong is not asking clarifying questions. This is the most vague problem I have every heard, and the interviewee just made assumptions and started programming."

    Nicholas S. - "First thing the interviewee did wrong is not asking clarifying questions. This is the most vague problem I have every heard, and the interviewee just made assumptions and started programming."See full answer

    Engineering Manager
    Data Structures & Algorithms
    +2 more
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    1 answer

    "Currently, I do a lot of data analysis using Azure Databricks and PowerBI. In Databricks, I write some basic SQL queries to retrieve the data and then pull that data into PowerBI for analysis. While this is sufficient, I believe there is room to make this skill set stronger. One way that I mitigate this currently is to maintain a strong relationship with our data analytics team. Whenever I have issues massaging or querying the data, I will reach out to one of those team members to help me get to"

    John F. - "Currently, I do a lot of data analysis using Azure Databricks and PowerBI. In Databricks, I write some basic SQL queries to retrieve the data and then pull that data into PowerBI for analysis. While this is sufficient, I believe there is room to make this skill set stronger. One way that I mitigate this currently is to maintain a strong relationship with our data analytics team. Whenever I have issues massaging or querying the data, I will reach out to one of those team members to help me get to"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    12 answers
    +9

    "I will have a discussion with him regarding why he disagrees with my solution. I will try to present him a plan about my solution. why I think its the best approach and take his feedback. I will try to analyze his approach and find the best in both approach. Will try to discuss with him and come up with an approach which is agreeable to both parties. The idea is refining the solution and approach instead of personally taking the disagreement. I will make sure that we are attacking the problem"

    Shanavas M. - "I will have a discussion with him regarding why he disagrees with my solution. I will try to present him a plan about my solution. why I think its the best approach and take his feedback. I will try to analyze his approach and find the best in both approach. Will try to discuss with him and come up with an approach which is agreeable to both parties. The idea is refining the solution and approach instead of personally taking the disagreement. I will make sure that we are attacking the problem"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    3 answers

    "What are you strengths -: My strengths would include my eagerness to learn. This allows me to be open to new projects, roles and products and I can give my 100% to achieve the goals expected of me Other strengths would include my collaborative approach to work. I believe a team can achieve tremendous success if shares a common goal, respects other's opinions and contribution and is built on fundamental of trust Finally my biggest strength would be my commitment and passion to solve the custome"

    Amit A. - "What are you strengths -: My strengths would include my eagerness to learn. This allows me to be open to new projects, roles and products and I can give my 100% to achieve the goals expected of me Other strengths would include my collaborative approach to work. I believe a team can achieve tremendous success if shares a common goal, respects other's opinions and contribution and is built on fundamental of trust Finally my biggest strength would be my commitment and passion to solve the custome"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    2 answers

    "Sorted the array and stored the minimum difference in a variable and then traversed the array for the pairs having minimum difference"

    Aashka C. - "Sorted the array and stored the minimum difference in a variable and then traversed the array for the pairs having minimum difference"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Data Structures & Algorithms
    +1 more
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    5 answers
    +2

    "I'm going to structure my answer like this so it is easy for both of us to follow up and grasp them easily. Let's first clear out some of the grey areas and make them black and white. Also, decide what are in-scope and out of scope. Second, let's understand what is our goal for improvement - is it the customer experience or any specific feature in mind? for a group of users? Third, I will brainstorm what are the pain points for user personas and solutions to improve them. Fourth, I will priorit"

    Suhasan C. - "I'm going to structure my answer like this so it is easy for both of us to follow up and grasp them easily. Let's first clear out some of the grey areas and make them black and white. Also, decide what are in-scope and out of scope. Second, let's understand what is our goal for improvement - is it the customer experience or any specific feature in mind? for a group of users? Third, I will brainstorm what are the pain points for user personas and solutions to improve them. Fourth, I will priorit"See full answer

    Product Design
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    Add answer
    Technical Program Manager
    Cross-Functional
    +1 more
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    3 answers
    Video answer for 'Design a photo app for the blind.'

    "Context Photo app || Click images, videos via mobile app (android, ios) + editing + share + upload Who are we? || Startup who wants to build accessibility apps for the disabled people Why do we want to build this app? || Current apps are not usable by visually impaired, we can bring difference & gain market share. Constraints || To launch in next 12 months Is this app exclusively targeted for blind? || Yes but regular people may also use it but not our main target group **Goa"

    FuzzyLogic - "Context Photo app || Click images, videos via mobile app (android, ios) + editing + share + upload Who are we? || Startup who wants to build accessibility apps for the disabled people Why do we want to build this app? || Current apps are not usable by visually impaired, we can bring difference & gain market share. Constraints || To launch in next 12 months Is this app exclusively targeted for blind? || Yes but regular people may also use it but not our main target group **Goa"See full answer

    Product Design
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    2 answers
    Video answer for 'Design a key-value store.'

    "Simple file system ( Hash Map , LSM trees), and consistent hashing. I failed to discuss about conflicts ( Versioning)"

    V V. - "Simple file system ( Hash Map , LSM trees), and consistent hashing. I failed to discuss about conflicts ( Versioning)"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    System Design
    +2 more
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    5 answers
    +2

    "When I transitioned from the Analytics team to the Product team, I faced challenges in gaining the trust of the engineering team. Having previously worked with them in a role where I provided insights rather than defining their priorities, they were initially hesitant to accept my inputs in my new role. This led to some misalignment, as they chose to focus on tasks independently rather than incorporating my recommendations. Recognizing the need to build credibility, I took a proactive approach."

    Shahrukh K. - "When I transitioned from the Analytics team to the Product team, I faced challenges in gaining the trust of the engineering team. Having previously worked with them in a role where I provided insights rather than defining their priorities, they were initially hesitant to accept my inputs in my new role. This led to some misalignment, as they chose to focus on tasks independently rather than incorporating my recommendations. Recognizing the need to build credibility, I took a proactive approach."See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +1 more
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    2 answers

    "Think of an operating system (OS) as being similar to a person managing household tasks like you! Imagine you have several chores to do around the house, such as cooking, cleaning, and praying. Each of these tasks is like an individual app. You, in this case, are responsible for ensuring all these tasks are completed smoothly. When you cook, you decide what ingredients to buy, how much of each, and which utensils to use. For cleaning, you assess what surfaces need to be cleaned, whether you need"

    Ekta M. - "Think of an operating system (OS) as being similar to a person managing household tasks like you! Imagine you have several chores to do around the house, such as cooking, cleaning, and praying. Each of these tasks is like an individual app. You, in this case, are responsible for ensuring all these tasks are completed smoothly. When you cook, you decide what ingredients to buy, how much of each, and which utensils to use. For cleaning, you assess what surfaces need to be cleaned, whether you need"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Technical
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    1 answer

    "Situation: While in the middle of a migration project, which required rewrite of services of my product into a cloud infra., we needed to configure our rules management services onto cloud as per legacy platform. The data extract of all the rules from legacy platform in a csv file needed heavy formatting to be usable for configuration of the new service. My entire engineering capacity was allocated on other prioritized ongoing feature migration and I had no bandwidth left in the ongoing spri"

    Geetesh T. - "Situation: While in the middle of a migration project, which required rewrite of services of my product into a cloud infra., we needed to configure our rules management services onto cloud as per legacy platform. The data extract of all the rules from legacy platform in a csv file needed heavy formatting to be usable for configuration of the new service. My entire engineering capacity was allocated on other prioritized ongoing feature migration and I had no bandwidth left in the ongoing spri"See full answer

    Customer Success Manager
    Behavioral
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    66 answers
    Video answer for 'Product of Array Except Self'
    +60

    "If 0's aren't a concern, couldn't we just multiply all numbers. and then divide product by each number in the list ? if there's more than one zero, then we just return an array of 0s if there's one zero, then we just replace 0 with product and rest 0s. what am i missing?"

    Sachin R. - "If 0's aren't a concern, couldn't we just multiply all numbers. and then divide product by each number in the list ? if there's more than one zero, then we just return an array of 0s if there's one zero, then we just replace 0 with product and rest 0s. what am i missing?"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Data Structures & Algorithms
    +3 more
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    Add answer
    Product Manager
    Artificial Intelligence
    +1 more
  • Microsoft logoAsked at Microsoft 
    11 answers
    Video answer for 'Design Uber Eats.'
    +8

    "basic drew the diagram"

    Aswath B. - "basic drew the diagram"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    System Design
    +2 more
Showing 41-60 of 261
Exponent

Get updates in your inbox with the latest tips, job listings, and more.

Follow Us

Products
Courses
Interview Questions
Interview Experiences
Popular articles
Guides
Coaching
For Partners
Company
Exponent © 2026
Terms of Service | Privacy