The Microsoft Interview Experience

I was supposed to leave for Dubai from Lahore on Flight ED-411, however due to Airblue's over efficient service, they didnt have my my name in the confirmed tickets list even though my dad confirmed them a day earlier. They said that there was nothing that they could do. It was then that I started really getting tensed up. I knew that if I didnt make it on that plane which was already overbooked, my brother would end up paying for the ticket Microsoft bought instead. It was during my dad's incessant effort to try to reason with them, that I felt an urge went up to the desk and said really calmly, "Keeping my Professional Interests in mind I will have to sue Air Blue". That got them really furious. Then my mom came in to break the ice, sent me away, requested them to do something and after that moment I realised that people are capable of doing a lot even if they say that nothing else that can be done. In the end it all worked out and I was on the plane. No residual feelings at all.

The flight was pleasant. It wasnt what I expected what aviation would feel like. The last time I travelled via air was back in the year 1993 when we were coming back to Pakistan from Dubai. My dad used to work there. Anyways I got a seat next to Furrukh who was also there for the Microsoft Recruitment process. We flipped through the pages of Programming Interviews Exposed. A killer book to take you through everything you need to score big on just about any programming interview position. Haseeb(Another fellow Intervieee) was on the flight too.

We landed 3 hours later at Dubai Terminal 2. Arriving at Dubai, Furrukh and I got into a queue for the retinal scan. We didnt know what it was for so we decided to break it. Then airport personnel started saying, "No jump, why jump you. Next time jump we cancel visa". That was just funny. During the retinal scan they told Furrukh to get money out of the bank and go back to Pakistan. What is with these people and pakistan anyways :S Outside the airport, Haseeb's uncle was there to receive us and he took us from the airport to the hotel. On the way, I looked at all the buildings waiting for some old memories to come and hit me. However, there were none. This was a different Dubai than the Dubai I lived in 12 years ago. It was a dubai of huge buildings, not one of empty spaces. Haseeb's uncle was kind enough to get us some drinks before dropping us to the hotel.

At Radisson hotel, Furrukh was sent off to Marriot Courtyard because availibility issues. That left me and Haseeb. While going to my room, I met Mr. Naresh who carried my bags. He would have talks with me from time to time. The hotel staff was amazing. Once I was all set, I  started checking looking around my room, watched TV, used the net, sent Radisson  email Postcards and lots more from my TV. Before I knew it, it was 5 am. I woke up the next day at 9:00 am took a quick shower and went down for some breakfast. A forty item breakfast was the limit. I met Sana(A girl from Fast Islamabad) over there. She had her interviews the previous day and told started telling me about how awesome and friendly the interviewers from Microsoft were. I was amazed. Coming back to the 3 full plates of stuff ranging from flavored yogurt, cereals,  meat, smoked salmon, fruit, bakery items, syrups and juices that I had, it was one of the most expensive, rather the most expensive breakfast i have ever had. The protocol that we were getting was really amazing.

Then Haseeb and I set out for Sheraton where the interviews were held. Dubai was a place of tranquility, four laned roads that are currently found in our intercity motorways and what seemed to be slow moving traffic was actually moving at 100Km/h because the buildings were so large. From any one point in new Dubai, one could see lots and lots of massive cranes working on massive buildings that were yet to come. The man made palm island was under construction and to my amazement the taxi drivers who used to be all Pakistani's once upon a time were now African, Egyptian and Indian with a few Pakistani's here and there. Before we knew it we had arrived.

It turned out that we arrived really early, so Haseeb dragged me out to the Beach that was attached to Sheraton hotel. The beach was errrm ummmm.... Lets just say it was for hotel guests only so we got shooed away.

When we went back to the Waiting room, there were a couple of people around. 5 Pakistani's and 3 Indians in total. I was amazed when one of them identified my name upon introduction. Turns out that he had left a comment on my blog not so long ago to which I didnt reply mainly(as I admitted later on) due to sheer laziness on my Part. His name was Deobrat and he was from Mumbai. He ran an awesome blog on http://spaces.msn.com/deobratsingh/ The others were Chaitanya, Archit from IIT, Haseeb whom I've already introduced, Ammar a really nice fellow who let me have a Microsoft puzzle that was supposed to be with him. I'll never forget you Ammar, Aamir Shah a person who needs no introduction and me whom this blog is all about. Every one of these was an awesome talented and energetic individual with the exception of me of course, I'm just lethargic. Soon enough Priya came and introduced herself and told us about the interview process. Faisal wasnt kidding when he told me that she was not like anything he expected she would be like.
So then the games began. Five interviews full of puzzle solving with the MS recruiters was real fun. The interviews were cool and so were the interviewers. They were so freindly that in the end I took evaluations from some of them and here are how they wentHere is some of the feedback(Note what follows may not look like a blog entry cos its extracted from an email I sent to a GIKIAN senior working at microsoft):-

1st Interviewer(Priya): She was happy with my answers and she said that I should take less time on every question so that I can be asked more questions. She also told me not to talk so loudly
2nd Interviewer(Murali): I really like your thinking, its really logical, however you should give yourself more time to think. Conflict :P
3rd Interviewer(Arjun): (the interview which I screwed) He was consoling me
by saying something equivalent to (IT DOES NOT END HERE), but I was
not convinced
-(PAUSE)-
[I was really confused when they called me in for the 4th one]
4th Interviewer(Luke): You seem to be very intelligent but why this(pointing
at my GPA). I told him that it sank due to gaming. And he went on
about how gaming almost got him thrown out of college.
5th Interviewer(Manish): He mainly asked questions about DataBases and seemed
pleased, but when i asked him for evaluation he gave me his card and
told me to email him.

I did not reveal the questions because some of them were made by the interviewers themselves and I just didnt feel like putting them on the net. However if you're interested for the May session some advice would be, "Be Yourself". If you have time go through "How to Move Mount Fiji", "Programming Interviews Exposed", overviews of Data Structures and Operating System concepts.

The remainder of the day, we checked out Morcetto Mall and the Mall of the Emirates, I did not get to go scuba diving, bunjee jumping or sand dune buggying that I had hoped for there just wasnt enough time. I should've gotten my trip extended by a couple of days. Anyhow, on going back to my room, I fell down and slept like a baby knowing that in a couple of days, all this pampering would feel like a dream when I would be be back at my hostel waiting for days to pass by and wait for the day I graduate.

Next morning, I decided to check out what the hotel had to offer, went to the gym and later headed off to the Turkish steam bath with all its Menthylated vapors. This stuff was better than I'd expected. After drinking and sweating out half a litre of water, I headed off for a shower. An hour later, I met Faisal Nasim who I hadnt seen in a year. Ordered room service and ate Steak with Pepper Sauce. Haseeb also joined in. The needle was ticking, and soon enough it was time to pack up and leave. I met the other people at the hotel, we exchanged farewell's and decided it was time to leave.

A lot of incidents happened at the airport and on the return flight but since you people have already had to read 1500 words, I'll end this blog entry here. Until next time have fun and pray for me, the result will be out in 2 weeks.