My interview experience with Microsoft was disappointing. The initial recruiter mentioned it would be a coding interview via Teams and Codility but provided no details on data related topics. Only a day before the interview, another recruiter informed me it would include Python, SQL, statistics, and Pandas. the misleading information from the recruiter was frustrating. During the interview, I answered all the questions, including several on SQL. Although my answers were correct, the interviewer wanted a different implementation for one question, which did not offer better performance. I provided an alternative solution within two minutes. Even though my answer was correct, it wasn't enough because I took some time to think about it. Despite my efforts, I didn't pass the interview and received a rejection email. The interviewer told me that I was rejected because of a minor issue with the SQL question. This was really disappointing because it seemed like they didn't value creative thinking and only wanted specific answers to pass.

Feeling thrilled to have accepted the offer, I look back on this interview process as both challenging and rewarding. It began with a technical round where I tackled a complex A/B testing design question, followed by a SQL query on user retention. The final stages included a system design discussion that had me sweating, but honestly, the system design section on PracHub prepared me well. Each step pushed my limits, but the culmination was definitely worth it, landing me a role at Microsoft.