Microsoft SDE - 2 | Interview Experience | Status Pending

I randomly applied on Microsoft's page and completed all my interviews in under two weeks.

Round 1 - Technical (1 hour): This round involved some random technical questions followed by a medium-difficulty Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA) question that required hashmaps and was optimized using an ordered dictionary. A heap solution was not requested. I felt this round went well and was quite interactive with the two interviewers, an SSE and an EM. My self-verdict was a 'Hire'.

Round 2 - Technical (1 hour, back-to-back): In this round, I encountered more random technical questions and was asked to implement a thread pool. There wasn't enough time for another DSA question, so I only discussed my approach. I believe I messed up a bit on the thread pool implementation. The interviewer, whom I believe was an SDE 2, was interactive. My self-verdict was 'Lean, maybe hire'.

Round 3 - System Design (1 hour): This round focused on the High-Level Design (HLD) of a file processor. We discussed concepts such as OCR, file chunking, storage mechanisms, and memory tradeoffs. I felt very confident in this round, and my self-verdict was a 'Strong Hire', thanks to a very good senior engineer interviewer.

Round 4 - As Appropriate (AA) (1 hour): This round involved modeling or designing a bank teller system, along with a behavioral question. I felt iffy about this round; I believe I might be rejected based on my performance here. The interviewer, a senior manager, seemed sleepy due to a 12-hour time zone difference, joined late, and was interjecting/repeating design points. I also didn't like my answer to the behavioral question; in hindsight, I responded in the format of 'I am applying learnings in a changing environment' instead of 'applied and tested this works'.

Overall, I'm not sure if the AA round can disqualify a candidate immediately. It feels like bad luck to get such an interviewer. I will update the final status once I hear back.