Microsoft SDE2 onsite interview experience with LLD, HLD, and coding rounds

Profile & Application *

Role: SDE-2 at Microsoft *

Experience: 4.5 Years (Tier 1 College, Product-based firm) *

Process: Applied via the career portal; all interview rounds were schedu

Profile & Application *

Role: SDE-2 at Microsoft *

Experience: 4.5 Years (Tier 1 College, Product-based firm) *

Process: Applied via the career portal; all interview rounds were scheduled on a single day.

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Round 1 Data Structures & Algorithms** *

Problem: Find the number of connected components in a graph (similar to "Number of Provinces"). *

Solution: Initially implemented the solution using Depth First Search (DFS). *

Optimization: Implemented a second solution using UnionFind upon request and performed a comparative analysis of time complexities for both approaches.

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Round 2 Low-Level Design** *

Problem: Design a Parking Lot system. *

Execution: Provided a comprehensive design explanation and implemented approximately 95% of the code. *

Concurrency: Addressed concurrency handling by proposing pessimistic locking as the preferred mechanism over optimistic locking.

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Round 3 High-Level Design & Managerial** *

Problem: Design a Rate Limiter. *

Technical Deep Dive: Discussed the architectural factors contributing to Redis's speed beyond it being an in-memory store. *

Solution: Explained that Redis utilizes a single-threaded architecture combined with I/O multiplexing to maximize performance. *

Behavioral: Answered standard non-technical and managerial questions.

Outcome *

Verdict: Selected.