Microsoft Job Fitment round for SSE
Summary
I had a 45-minute Job Fitment round at Microsoft for an SSE role, which included behavioral questions, a code review, and the LeetCode 'Open the Lock' DSA problem. Although I completed the coding, I felt unprepared for the expected behavioral depth.
Full Experience
It was a 45-minute interview and very time-bound. The interviewer was friendly and mentioned upfront that they would interrupt me if needed to keep things on track.
The interview started with a brief self-introduction, followed by behavioral questions, then code review, and finally a DSA problem.
Behavioral questions
What was the most technically challenging issue you’ve faced?
Follow-up: How did you make sure it wouldn’t happen again?
Why are you looking for a change?
How would you influence someone when you’re not in a position of authority (i.e., leading without being a manager)?
Code review
I was given a Python file with a few functions and asked to review it. I pointed out issues like:
Missing validations
Credentials being printed to the console
General code quality and safety concerns
DSA
I got a previously asked Microsoft question (the lock / wheel rotation problem).
I explained the approach by modeling it as a graph/tree traversal, with "000" as the root, deadends as blocked nodes, and the target as a reachable node. Since the goal is to reach the target in the minimum number of steps, the correct approach is BFS.
Due to time constraints, I had only ~10–15 minutes to explain and implement the solution. I managed to complete the code and pass a few test cases (using custom inputs), but the implementation wasn’t very clean—there was some repetition that I didn’t get time to refactor.
Overall thoughts
I wasn’t fully prepared for the behavioral depth expected at an SSE level, and that likely mattered. I had prepared heavily around explaining my resume and past projects, assuming this would be more of a resume deep-dive since it was labeled a “job fitment” round.
Hopefully this helps others going into a similar round.
Interview Questions (5)
Most Technically Challenging Issue
What was the most technically challenging issue you’ve faced? Follow-up: How did you make sure it wouldn’t happen again?
Why Are You Looking for a Change?
Why are you looking for a change?
Influencing Without Authority
How would you influence someone when you’re not in a position of authority (i.e., leading without being a manager)?
Code Review on Python File
I was given a Python file with a few functions and asked to review it.
Open the Lock (Lock / Wheel Rotation Problem)
You have a lock which consists of 4 wheels, each wheel has 10 slots ('0' to '9'). You can rotate each wheel forward or backward once. The lock starts at '0000'. You are given a list of deadends which are all 4-digit strings, and a target string. What is the minimum number of turns to reach the target from '0000', avoiding any deadends?
Preparation Tips
I wasn’t fully prepared for the behavioral depth expected at an SSE level, and that likely mattered. I had prepared heavily around explaining my resume and past projects, assuming this would be more of a resume deep-dive since it was labeled a “job fitment” round.