Microsoft recruitment (2)

Although there are countless reading pages, it is still bleak in practice. How is it good? The "Star of Tomorrow" Intern Program at the Microsoft Asia Research Institute opened a green track for students: two senior software development managers and interns from the innovation engineering center conducted a simulated interview, let you "receive" in advance how these technical experts make it difficult for the interviewees. Of course, they will be obliged to give you on-site support.

 

 Interviewer's business card        

At the beginning of the interview, we were not in a rush to cope with the problem. First, let's hear how danale defined the "interview" that surprised us: the interview is to help both parties better understand the situation, tell others about your abilities. As an interviewer, we mainly want to examine the other party's ability to solve problems, because in the future work, we will always encounter various situations and whether we can solve these problems, it became the focus of the study.

How does Microsoft Research Institute design customs clearance interviews?

As a research institute, Microsoft Asia Research Institute is mainly recruiting two types of talents: R & D engineers (rsde) and researchers. There are usually five rounds of interviews for the positions of candidates for engineers, that is to say, five interviewers will "bomb" in turn ". Two interviewers focused on research capabilities, the other two focused on engineering capabilities, and the last was responsible for evaluating the overall quality. For researchers, there may be as many as eight rounds of interviews, where they are required to make an hourly self-statement about their findings and experiences, let the interviewer have a general understanding of your research content, and then conduct one-on-one interviews for each person, the entire process may last for 2-3 days.

Does it sound like it is full of difficulties and obstacles? However, to come back, this interview is not only a challenge to the candidates, but also a challenge to the interviewer. Employees assigned the interviewer role in the Institute will receive a series of systematic and rigorous training. After all, it is not easy for researchers who are not specialized in recruitment to learn about the advantages and disadvantages of each other in an hour's talk to determine the other party. After the interview, each interviewer needs to write a report to express his or her evaluation of the subject and discuss whether the interviewer is suitable for entering the research institute. Finally, these reports are summarized into the hands of an interviewer, and then the interviewer decides the candidate's stay.

Wonderful simulated interview: making practice less fearful

When the two interviewers talk a lot about the "Tips" of the interview, they are about to enter the main drama-simulating the interview.

Yin qiufeng is mainly responsible for examining the examinee's programming ability, while Yan Xin will examine the comprehensive ability to solve the problem. Next, let's take a look at these specific questions. If it is you, What answers will you give?

Yin qiufeng first threw out a question: how to check whether a binary tree is a Sort binary tree and draw a binary tree on the blackboard to explain the basic definition of the sort binary tree.

A female intern volunteered to be challenged as a "Mouse. This student used recursive functions to quickly complete the binary tree sorting check. After the question is completed, Yin qiufeng explains that as a programming question, it is generally very basic. You need to understand the sub-functions of each function, and then write it step by step. As long as the sub-problems are written and the relationship between the sub-problems and the entire problem is defined, the results will naturally be obtained. For recursive functions, you must pay attention to the following aspects: First, you must have an ending condition to avoid endless loops. Second, the logical relationship must be clear and the relationship between loops and Recursion must be distinguished, we cannot use the idea of loop to think about recursion. If you have no confidence in algorithms, Yin qiufeng recommends you to read this book "Introduction to computing law.

In this case, some people asked if algorithms, as a basic skill, need to be practiced all the time? Yin qiufeng said that such basic skills are necessary, but they do not need to be practiced every day. However, for those who want to interview, it is certainly helpful to take a period of time before the interview and write a piece of money on paper. In our work, we cannot just write algorithms, but more importantly, apply the hidden thinking habits in algorithms to our work. In the general interview of the Institute, the algorithm questions are not very difficult. Instead, they choose to leave a space for discussion. However, being meticulous and logically clear will certainly become the standard of research.

While observing the algorithm, Yan Xin on the other side of the hall began to encounter problems.

If there is a row (n) of stones that can be taken from any place, one or two adjacent stones can be taken each time, and the winner of the last stone can be taken, how can this problem be taken? Is there any rule to follow? The tested boy quickly gave the answer. However, our interviewer was not satisfied with this. He continued to ask: if the stone is changed to two rows, that is, N * 2, will there be any rule to follow? If this row of stones are connected at the beginning and end to form a circle, what will the impact on the outcome? For the two rows of stones, it is never possible to connect at the beginning and end. But what changes will happen if the two rows of stones are on a mobius ring? In the program, if we need to express the first and last arrays connected by the Mobius ring, what should we do?

In the face of the interviewer's layer-by-layer questions, it is not so much an interview as a matter of discussion between two people. In the face of the Mobius Ring Model on the hand of Yan Xin, the boys interviewed in the simulated interview said they didn't know much about this thing, but they could try it.

                      
                            Mobius Ring Model (Note: images are from the Network)

So he tore a large ring from the center line and saw whether two separate rings, two interlocking rings, and one double-digit large ring would be obtained? The audience also gave their own guesses.

Yan Xin stressed that when interviewing and examining talents, sometimes it is not to get a very accurate answer. We pay more attention to the ideas and methods of this person to solve the problem. The interview gives the two sides more cooperation space, just as in actual work, there must be cooperation and collision, in order to find the best solution. If you focus too much on the applicant's ability to give a correct answer to a question, you can simply perform a written test. For those who are engaged in innovative work, space imagination, cooperation and exchange capabilities, and the idea of being empty are necessary. What we need to do is to use appropriate methods to check whether the other party has an open mind, whether the answer can be found under guidance, and whether it has the potential to solve the problem. This is what we want.

What should I do if I encounter an unfamiliar field or a question that I don't understand at all during the interview?Honesty is the best policyFirst, the interviewer will not be entangled in what the other party does not know. They will try their best to direct the topic to the areas where the interviewer is better at and reduce the differences between the two parties. On the other hand, if you have encountered a previous question during the interview, telling the other party honestly that you have done this question will inevitably be a bonus. In addition to professional questions, questions about one's self-learning, self-management, communication and cooperation capabilities will also be raised.

An hour soon passed, and the intense and rich simulated interviews of the two interview volunteers also ended. However, this simple simulated interview gave the interns a deeper understanding of the interview. Not only do you reflect on your own shortcomings, but also start to look at the problem from the interviewer's perspective. Many questions have been answered.

Finally, the two interviewers concluded: to show each side of you to the interviewer, maybe you are the talent we desire. Microsoft is always patient with talent, and we will wait for you, because we believe that, after all, you and I will come together with our passion for technology and our yearning for a better tomorrow.

 

Tip:This book describes Microsoft's interviews and various technical positions in more detail.

Additional reading:

1. Bop Douban home page: http://book.douban.com/subject/3004255/

2. Internet purchase link: http://www.china-pub.com/38070

3. "Beauty of programming", mandatory for IT job interview "link:
Http://www.google.com.hk/search? Complete = 1 & HL = ZH-CN & newwindow = 1 & Q = beauty of programming +-+ Microsoft technical interview experiences + Yan Xin & meta = & AQ = F & OQ =