Microsoft | SDE 2 | Interview Experience | Noida | Rejected
- Location
- Noida
- Experience
- 4 years
- Posted
- 16 Jan 2026
Summary
I recently interviewed at Microsoft for an SDE 2 role in Noida and was rejected after several rounds, including DSA, LLD, HLD, and a Hiring Manager round.
How it went
I had recently appeared for interviews at Microsoft and felt like sharing the interview experience.
Screening Round
- Modified version of https://leetcode.com/problems/contains-duplicate-ii/description/ where I was asked to print the elements with the distance k.
- https://leetcode.com/problems/edit-distance/description/
- Past projects experience
Round 1 : DSA Round
https://leetcode.com/problems/number-of-islands/description/
Round 2 : LLD
Design a Rate Limiter
Follow ups :
- What if different APIs have different number of APIs that can be called in different time periods?
- What if we have to set a rate limiter on 2 APIs combined?
Round 3 : HLD
Design a Leaderboard for a gaming company which has 'n' number of games. The user must be able to see his rank, as well as the top 10, 50, 100 players on the leaderboard.
Round 4 : HM Round
- Standard Behavioral Questions
- https://leetcode.com/problems/single-threaded-cpu/description/
Questions asked (7)
- 01
Modified Contains Duplicate II (Print Elements)
Data Structures & Algorithms
Open the problemA modified version of LeetCode problem 'Contains Duplicate II'. I was asked to print the elements with the distance k, rather than just checking for existence.
- 02
- 03
Past Projects Discussion
Behavioral
Discussion regarding my past projects and experience.
- 04
Number of Islands
Data Structures & Algorithms
Open the problemStandard LeetCode problem: Number of Islands.
- 05
Design a Rate Limiter
System Design
Design a Rate Limiter. Follow-up questions included: 1. What if different APIs have different numbers of calls allowed in different time periods? 2. What if we have to set a rate limiter on 2 APIs combined?
- 06
Design a Gaming Leaderboard
System Design
Design a Leaderboard for a gaming company which has 'n' number of games. The user must be able to see their rank, as well as the top 10, 50, 100 players on the leaderboard.
- 07
Single-Threaded CPU
Data Structures & Algorithms
Open the problemStandard LeetCode problem: Single-Threaded CPU.