Microsoft Interview Experience for Associate Consultant (ACON) | On-Campus 2022

The eligibility criteria for this role was as follows:

• CGPA or % in X and XII – 60% or 6.0 CGPA
• CGPA or % in Pursuing Degree – 80% or 8.0 CGPA
• No Standing Arrears
• In my college all CSE and ECE branch students were eligible

12 students were shortlisted for the Selection process.

There were 3 interview rounds –

• Technical Interview
• HM Round
• AA Round

Round 1(Technical Round): The first round of the selection process was the Tech Round.

• The interviewer asked questions based on the projects I have done and basic OOPs, Java, DBMS, OS questions, etc. He asked two puzzles out of which one was very easy and the other one was a little tricky.
• We had a discussion about the latest trends in technology and since my project was done using Deep Learning the interviewer asked me how that concept can be used to help in the pandemic situation.
• I was asked about some technologies which were used during pandemic and what projects/ideas can I think of to help people in this COVID -19 situation.
• I had mentioned about SQL and competitive programming hence the interviewer asked me 2 java coding questions.
• The first question involved string manipulation and arrays which was easy. The second question was little lengthy . I had to perform different operations on a BST (https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/must-do-coding-questions-for-companies-like-amazon-microsoft-adobe/#trees) . Here the interviewer wanted the most optimized solution and was asking me the time and space complexity in the end of the code and wanted to know how to improvise the solution.
• Then the interviewer gave me 2 -3 tables and I had to write SQL queries for the different outputs which the interviewer wanted and then similarly the interviewer gave me different queries and I had to guess the output which will be produced and rectify the query to produce a particular output . Some theory questions based on Sql were asked. This interview lasted for about an hour , the interviewer was very helpful and had helped me when I was stuck .

Out of the 12 people who were shortlisted, 7 qualified for the HM Round.

Round 2(HM Round): The second interview round was the Hiring Manager round and was purely resume-oriented.

• The interviewer asked me to explain all the projects which I had mentioned in my resume in detail.
• Then a few questions related to those projects were asked.
• Then we had a discussion about the internships which I have done and some HR questions based on the team projects done. The interviewer asked me few Cloud Computing questions and some very basic Azure questions.
• I was also asked if I had worked with any Microsoft products (Azure or .Net). And some basic AI and ML questions were asked because it was mentioned in my resume. In the end, the interviewer asked me 4-5 management questions( similar to HR round).

This interview lasted for around 45 to 50 mins and later 5 people qualified for the final round.

Round 3(AA – “As Appropriate ” Round): The final round was the AA, it’s like the HR round where the interviewer already had a clear idea about my previous rounds and hence it started with a discussion about my projects and internships.

• Then the interviewer asked me those questions which I couldn’t answer properly in first-round ie. technical round 1, it was to test if I read those topics again (recent trends).
• The interviewer then asked me typical HR questions, why Microsoft? , where do you see yourself in 5 years, etc., and some technical questions ( OOPs, OS, DBMS ).
• Then in the end situation based question to see how I would react in certain situations and how I would work in a team.

2 people were selected for the Role as Full Time Employees and I was one of the two.

Tips:

• Read about Azure, .Net, cloud computing, and whatever is mentioned in the job description of the role.
• Don’t lie in the resume and during the interview process.
• Basic OOPs, OS, Network and Communications, DBMS questions will be definitely asked.
• Always be honest and for the HR questions you need to convince the interviewer that you can not only work as a team leader but also under someone and in case there is a situation that cannot be handled or you have less time to complete a task the first thing which you have to do is inform your boss /colleague (ie. be transparent).

Don’t get nervous and be confident, All the best!!