I am looking at the website right now and they are open but for sites like dubai or bangalore.. am I doing something wrong?

Hey! Saw other people make similar timeline posts that helped me out, so I wanted to share my experience with the timeline for the 2022 Microsoft SWE intern process. Here is the overview of dates:

7/14 - Applied to this job posting with a referral (day after it opened lol)

8/5 - Received interview for initial recruiter phone screen

8/12 - Completed initial phone screen (no codility, just a phone call). All you need is this repo to prep.

8/27 - Received invite for final interviews.

9/10 - Completed 2 x 45 min final interviews. Each had a couple of behaviorals and 1 technical question. LC Microsoft explore card is good prep, I got no more than LC med. I got through all of the implementation and analysis during my first interview, and felt really good about it. During the second interview, I only drew up a game plan and analyzed my algo, but had back and forth with the interviewer about small improvements until I had written out pseudocode of the optimal solution. Left that second interview feeling okay-ish.

9/17 - Offer extended. The action center portal for interviews changed to "completed" under a new job #, offer was received midday

Hi everyone,

I applied for a Microsoft internship a month ago (on 24 Aug 2024) with an internal referral, but I haven't received any updates since then. I've been preparing for DSA interviews during this time, but I haven't gotten an OA (Online Assessment) or any details about an interview schedule.

In the Microsoft Action Center, my application status still shows as "in review." This is my first Reddit post, and I created this account specifically to ask for advice. Should I just continue waiting for the email, or is there something I should do to follow up?

I’ve noticed that others have already started posting on LinkedIn about getting selected for Microsoft's summer internships. I’m assuming the internship I applied for is for Summer 2025, but the application didn’t specify whether it was for summer or fall.

I’m starting to feel a bit worried and unsure if I’m still being considered. Should I lose hope at this point? Would really appreciate any guidance or similar experiences from others!

I see people on reddit help each other in every topic. i seeking for any kind of suggestion or help to keep me motivated. thanks!

EDIT: can you suggest me some good intern opportunities (preferably in India) for me to apply as in second year of a 3 year bachelors degree?

Hey, does anyone know when the applications for microsoft internships open. Really curious, want to know if i missed deadline?

Hey all,

I could use your knowledge! Totally new to this world.

I applied to a research internship at Microsoft, which requires 2 references. My application is currently listed as “submitted” and under review. The company also emailed my references straight away to ask for letters but didn’t provide any kind of deadline or timeline. They just made it sound time sensitive. It’s right before the holidays so I can’t imagine they’ll be aggressively reviewing applications, but I’m also not sure if my application will continue in the meantime without the references?

If anyone happens to be or know a hiring manager or have any insight about how quickly these letters are needed, that would be so helpful for my dear wonderful letter-writers!!

Thank you :)

I saw that the explore applications just opened, and I'm not ready to submit a resume yet. Also, applications opened up earlier than last year I think. What is the latest you think I could submit my application and have it be considered? Would mid-August be okay?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT : IT'S NOW OPEEEN!!!! GO GO GO GO APPLY!

Hey does anyone knows if the application form is out? so I read about it was released in August or mid-end august so today is september 1 and I havnt heard anything about this one!!

So does anybody know what's going on?

I already enter here and it says https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/exploremicrosoft

that "Applications are now closed" but as far as I know when I take a look in July-august there was no application open it so I guess they havnt opened that yet?

EDIT: FOLKS seems like it's absolutely gone as well as GOOGLE STEP! I contacted a girl in my college who got in STEP and now a SWE intern at Google she told me that now it's gone!

Timeline and Interview experience

• November 27, 2024 – Applied without a referral.

• December 27, 2024 – Shortlisted for the Online Assessment (OA).

• January 2, 2025 – Took the OA. Solved the first question quickly but faced an odd function signature mismatch error in the second question, even though I hadn't changed the function type. Despite this, my logic was mostly correct. Didn't expect to proceed further, but...

• January 22, 2025 – Received an interview shortlisting! Scheduled my interview for January 29.

• January 29, 2025 – First-round interview went really well. Got a call within five minutes for the second round.

  • was asked to implement a BST, after a bit of to and fro conversation, I understood he wanted me to build a self balancing BST. Took some time to recall AVL Tree and told him whatever I had remembered. Then he asked me to start implementing.

  • Had to discuss the design of my backend project (wasn't able to implement it but explained verbally) I haven't done any system design.

  • Started implementing the BST, but midway, the interviewer left and when he came back, paused me and said he understood what I was trying to do but was missing one or two things but that was okay and that we should end the test.

  • Asked a few questions before wrapping up, it was a good conversation. Had mixed feelings about this round, but I remained hopeful.

• February 8, 2025 – Action Centre status updated to Not Selected.

Poured my heart and soul into the preparation, only to be crushed back to level 0. Feeling very crushed and sad at the moment. Gave interviews for Amazon and Microsoft so far and rejected at both. I am sad that I am wasting my time and that I am not good enough. I don't think it's worth it to be any hopeful. I take a lot of guidance and have worked a lot to improve. This interview was so much better than my last interview. But only to be rejected. Anyway congratulations to those who are able to get through.

Hey! Has anyone heard back from Microsoft explore after applying?

I applied back in november and havent heard anything back. When I go to the action center it says my application is still under review but when I check the inactive section it says transferred. Does anyone elses say this or did I just never turn in my resume correctly?
I never got a rejection email so im unsure if im even being considered.

Any know?

Hey everybody! I was an explorer summer of 2019, and I've had quite a few people dming me about my experience so I thought I'd compile it & post it publicly!

Timeline

• Sent out an application end of August, within a week of applications opening up

• Contacted mid-September to do an on-campus interview the next week

• Heard back at the beginning of October to sign up for an on-site at the end of November

• Received offer beginning of December with 2 weeks to accept/decline

My Resume

Horrible. No project experience, no past internships. I had only taken a 2-semester introductory class at the time of applying. Points in my favor were that I had a 3.9GPA and I went to a target school.

Interviews

• First round: string manipulation and behavioral questions

• On-site: simple tree question, conceptual questions, PM-style questions, and behavioral questions

Advice

• Apply as early as possible. Although I did have friends who applied much later and received their offer in January/February, Microsoft does run out of spots, so I would keep an eye out for the application and apply as soon as you can.

• Focus on your resume!! The interview is extremely easy, and this is coming from somebody who had to self-study trees and linked lists and other data structures because I hadn't even gotten to it in class. If you can get through the resume screening, the rest is easy from there. I would highly recommend doing a project if you haven't and putting it on your resume. Highlight any experience you have. If you're too experienced for explore, they will reroute you for the SWE internship (or PM if you're interested in that).

• If you know somebody who is on good terms with your campus recruiter, a referral can be very helpful. Not necessary though — I applied online with no referral and somehow made it through.

• You do NOT need experience for this internship. Like I said, I had absolutely 0 experience and had to self study data structures for the interview. If you're an incoming freshman/just changed your major to CS, don't let that put you off!! This internship was made for people like you.

• You can apply to multiple internships (explore and PM, for example) but they will make the choice for you as to which internship you should interview for.

Finally, please apply for this internship if you are at all interested!! It was an absolutely amazing experience that I'd recommend to anybody. Microsoft has an awesome internship program, they pay pretty well ($32/hour in 2019, not sure if that's changed), and it's altogether a great experience. And you do not actually need to be an URM in the strictest sense. There were white male explorer interns, who talked about their socioeconomic class/cultural background for their diversity. Seriously, if you're even thinking about it, apply. Worst they can do is say no. :)

I'm happy to do resume reviews and chat privately if you're interested in learning more. Hope this helps!

I have been searching on where to apply but I can't find any place for that. Does that mean they haven't opened yet or the positions have been filled?

Also what are some other places for internship for first year students apart from Google Step, Meta.

I'm a first year Engineering student in Canada and my program has mandatory Co-ops. I would like to start building my resume as early as I can so that I can hopefully get an internship at MS (sounds really ambitious but I have to try). Any advice on how early (prior) I should apply for internship, and how I should build my resume?

Thanks!

Hi guys,

Title says it all. What is the start date range for Microsoft SWE internship? What's the earliest/latest day you can start?

Thanks!

What the fuck? I applied with a referral too (on August 12th). Weren't they suppose to get back to everyone within 90 days?

I'm just hella sad.

Hey y'all,

I wanted to summarize my experience with recruiting this season! For context, I am a non CS major (but still tech degree) that likes to code. I'm not cracked at Leetcode like some others in the subreddit either. I honestly got super fortunate with my results this season, so here it is!

Background:

Education: Junior majoring in bachelors of cybersecurity (3.8 something GPA) at a school no one cares about, and a state that I knowww y'all don't care abt.

Experience:

- 1 paid internship. Its not a technical company but its a well-known household name. Here I mostly do software engineering work, and work at a high level/surface level of some AI/ML projects, mobile app dev, and building desktop applications for the company.

- 1 unpaid internship at a AI/ML startup. Wrote a few lines of code in python and worked with some APIs

Projects: SwiftUI todo list mobile app with basic functionalities; database, decent ux & design, etc.

Statistics

I've been super comfortable at my current internship, because the company allows me to return to work for them every semester. Ealier in the year, I was moderately eager about applying to different companies even if they paid around the same that my current one does. I just wanted to experience something different! Buttt when I made this grave mistake of finding this subreddit :D I saw how much companies could pay interns. After seeing that, I wasn't really interested in switching to a company that was super similar in pay / prestige. I probably applied to a little under 60 applications and got fortunate with my results!

I got 7 virtual interviews, and 4 offers!

Technical stuff

--------------------

Leetcode stats: 38 Easies, 21 Mediums, 0 Hards. I focused on blind 75 (didn't even finish it). I am cheeks at leetcode. Like no joke. Well, maybe I don't totally suck, but im the type that can conceptualize a problem and its solution, but coding it out is a wholeeee other beast for me.

Codesignal: I'd be fortunate if I even solved the second question before the timer ended lol. I understood the questions, but my raw leetcoding skills were not good enough. I failed a tonnn of OAs but I wasn't sad, because I knew the low effort I was putting into studying was a good indicator of my score on the OAs.

Behavioral stuff

----------------------

NOW THIS IS WHERE I SHINE!!! I believe my ability to connect with the interviewer, communicate very well, and stay super calm was my saving grace this season. For one of my rejections, a recruiter reached out to me saying even though my interview said I lacked the technical skills they wanted, the feedback on my communication & ability to take pointers/tips on how to improve my solution was exceptional. They said they want me to reach back out to them about interviewing for new grad, and if I forget, they said they'll personally reach out to me to apply haha (and that felt pretty good! so NOW I'm in my technical-skill-training-arc to prep for next season lol).

ps: Behavioral and technicals below are ranked by difficulty. 1 being easy peasy, 10 being legendary difficulty.

Offers

--------------

Chick-fil-A (Atlanta, GA)

Position: 2022 Digital Technology Internship

Timeline: Applied 5/12 > Contacted for interview 5/20 > First interview on 6/1 > Final interview on 6/14 > Offer 6/22

Thoughts: All behavioral, smooth process.

Behavioral: ez. no technicals. ALL behavioral. super chill process, basic questions about my internship experience, "tell me ab a time when...", etc. I think they really liked my willingness to learn and my upbeat attitude about experiencing new things! They also acknowledged that I did my research v well on their company values and stuff.

Technical OA: N/A

Technical Interview: N/A

Local Data/Tech Solutions Company

Position: 2022 Cloud/software engineering intern

Timeline: Applied 6/13 > Interview 6/21 > Offer 6/22

Thoughts: All behavioral, smooth process. It was a panel of interviewers interviewing me.

Behavioral: another all behavioral process. standard behavioral questions & we had nice conversations about tech.

Technical OA: N/A

Technical Interview: N/A

Local State Financial department

Position: 2022 IT intern

Timeline: Applied roughly a week before the following date (cant find exact date) > 7/5 Contacted for interview > 7/15 Interview > Offer 7/15 same day

Thoughts: All behavioral, smooth process. It was 2 interviewers. This one felt like an ego boost tbh bc I kind of knew I wouldn't accept the offer, just wanted more interview experience to get in the mood for the season.

Behavioral: another all behavioral process. standard behavioral questions & they really liked the conversations we had.

Technical OA: N/A

Technical Interview: N/A

Microsoft

Position: 2023 SWE Intern

Timeline: Applied few days after application opened (cant get exact date) > Contacted for phone interview 9/16 > Phone on 10/9 > Final interview on 11/9

Thoughts: This is the best experience I have had with interviewing anywhere. My first interviewer was such a joy to interact with. Super positive & was eager to see how I approached each problem. Second interviewer was also super cool and we had plenty of time to chat after I optimally solved the question. For the record, I didn't fully solve a few of the questions they gave me. But it seemed they cared more about me engaging them in my thought process, why I thought the way I did, and always outlining my thoughts before coding them. It felt so good.

I thought I got rejected bc my action center wasn't working, like, at all. I spent over a week stressing on whether or not I got the offer. At one point I convinced myself I didn't care about the offer bc I gave it my v best.

Turns out, action center was broken on Safari. LOL. Went to chrome and saw 'completed' in my action center. got the offer a few days after that. Turns out, my action center turned to 'completed' ONE DAY after the interview. words couldn't describe how relieved I felt haha.

tips:

1. you'd better do blind 75

2. look on Glassdoor to see how other interviews went for people

Behavioral: ez.

Technical OA: N/A

Technical Interview: 6.5/10

REJECTIONS BABY!!!

--------------------------------------------

Crowdstrike

Position: 2023 Summer SWE Intern

Timeline: Applied 9/1 > Hackerrank 9/13 > Contacted for phone interview 10/3 > week of 10/7 > final interviews on 10/17 & 10/24 > rejection 11/15

Thoughts: OA review + behaviorals. Nothing told me I did anything terribly wrong or even messed up terribly at any point. Vibe was a little off with one of the interviewers, idk exactly why LOL. Also not sure exactly why I got the rejection, but who cares, we ball.

Behavioral: 6/10. great conversations about my experiences and conceptual security & OOP questions. interviewer said I answered them all correctly and I enjoyed our conversation.

Technical OA: 7/10

Technical Interview: N/A

LinkedIn

Position: 2023 Summer Data Science Intern

Timeline: Applied 8/30 > Contacted for phone interview 9/20 > phone on 9/30 > 3 final round interviews 10/18 > rejection 10/24

Thoughts: yea this one was dead before I even joined the interview LOL. I am good at basic/intermediate sql, but they were getting into some wild stuff id never seen before during that technical. there was also conceptual questions about data science concepts that flew wayyyy over my head even tho I tried my best to answer. I feel that if someone was an actual data science major they'd fare much much better. I believe the rejection is totally fair.

Behavioral: 3/10. great conversation. really enjoyed this one, super laid back, typical behavioral questions.

Technical OA: N/A

Technical Interview: 100/10. by the last interview I WAS 1 HP😭

Atlassian

Position: 2023 Summer SWE Intern

Timeline: Applied 9/22 > Hackerrank sent 10/13 > Took on 10/21 > interview 11/8 > rejection week after (cant find exact date)

Thoughts: I really did choke the technical. Took me a while to grasp the question bc I had to pretty much write it all down myself, think of a data structure for the input & explain that all in just a few mins. the time really flew by. my interviewer was super patient and helped a bunch with nudging me in the right direction. couldn't solve it 100% in the end, but this was a very valuable learning experience for me.

Behavioral: N/A

Technical OA: 7/10

Technical Interview: 7/10

Final Thoughts:

• I ended up accepting the offer from Microsoft (duh!)

• I am very proud of myself for sticking with things! Tbh my odds of getting something like a FAANG were super low. I got super fortunate through the whole process. But thankfully, instead of my mind being riddled with imposter syndrome, I feel accomplished. Because like anyone else, I put the effort I could into my preparation!

• Though I stated prior that I used python in my internships, I really only did a few lines of code (which where just modified solutions from stack overflow). I didn't know python really, like at all LOL. Im a java guy. I don't like it but I know it the best. I started learning python in September of this year and forced myself to get the hang of it for interviews. Maybe this is why I was a little sketchy during these technicals LOL. (it wasn't a total bloodbath tho cause once u learn ur first programming language, the subsequent ones are easier to get the hang of)

• do leetcode more often and spread it out among a few months. don't cram like I did it (few weeks). doesn't really work.

• Put IMPACT in your resume. Saying you 'did' something or 'executed' something is cool but actually put numbers in there and make it bold (and use jakes resume).

• apply through your school's coop program. process is faster and it feels like I had better odds by doing this.

• get referrals from your friends who work for local companies!!!

• stop waiting and just apply early. If I had waited, I never would have been ready.

• SMILE SMILE SMILE

• wear a suit

now I can finally. touch. some. grass. during this winter break I will be watching tv all day, getting back to playing video games, snowboarding again w my friends & finally getting enough sleep. im not touching leetcode until next year. I feel very grateful to have accomplished something like this as a non computer science major who just likes to code. when I showed my parents my offer we all went crazy in the living room! they were like 'huhh?? they pay interns this much now?? well done!' I feel happy to show them something great came out of them coming to this country to give their kids better opportunities.

I wish the best to all the rest of you csmajors :) this subreddit is the best and worst thing that's happened to me this year!

Thanks to u/kunriuss for the awesome write-up format.

Anonymized resume is attached: https://imgur.com/a/CIRb4IX Had to anonymize a ton of stuff and generalize some dates to avoid doxxing myself :)

Has anyone heard back from Microsoft? I applied mid-August and my portal still says Application Transferred. Is this normal?