How to prepare for problem solving questions in an interview
Greetings from New Jersey! The Recruiting Road Show has started its second week. If you are curious last week, I interviewed 42 candidates for 30 minutes each, led 3 meet-the-company presentations, and hosted 2 candidate dinners for Microsoft employees and alumni. WOW. I’m tired just writing all of that.
So it’s week 2 of the road trip, and I thought that I would continue my interview tips series—as I could write these for weeks! Last time, I talked about the top traits we look for in an interview. Today, I wanted to talk about problem solving questions. Why do we ask them - and how should a top candidate answer?
I myself do not ask any technical coding questions in an interview. I keep things a bit more vague (that’s my tricky way of saying I’m not super technical), but that doesn’t mean I don’t want technical answers. For instance, I like to ask many open ended questions. I like to see how people think, and open ended problem solving and design questions are the way to go.
Some good questions are “design a product for a certain type of user” or “test a product” or “come up with some features that would be key in creating a product.” Think of things like “Design a cell phone for a child” and “test a soda vending machine.” Here are some hints as to why we ask those questions, and hopefully some tricks that will help you answer those questions:
1. Get Really Specific: When asked a question such as “test a vending machine,” think of as many possibilities as you can. This isn’t a one sentence answer. Talk until the interviewer says to stop. We want your thought process. Come up with as many ideas as possible … this way you can build off other ideas and show that you are really detail oriented.
2. Ask Clarifying Questions: If you are asked to “design a remote control for a television for a grandmother,” ask a lot of follow up questions; the interviewer will answer. Questions to ask include: who is the target age group?, how many staff do I have?, what is the price point?, how much time do we have?, etc. This shows you are thinking and not just jumping into creating a product without any background info. There is no right answer; the interviewer will make up answers (i.e. the age of the user is 12) as they go along.
3. Use the Product Lifecycle as a Guide: A great interviewer at Microsoft that I know used to ask a fun question. He would ask, “What flavor cheesecake would you make for the Queen of England?” Now, he doesn’t want to have you say “Strawberry”… The point of this question is to see if you are familiar with the software development lifecycle. You would first do research on what the queen likes and understand how much time you have until she eats the cake. Then you would make a test cake, have people try it out, make any adjustments to it, do some more research, and make the final product. The flavor doesn’t matter. It’s just your thought process getting there.
4. Talk Out Loud: Don’t just think of an answer or write through a problem and then 20 minutes later say, “The answer is 43”. Talk it out; a lot of times that’s when the good solutions come. Share with us what you are thinking …. Maybe we can help you out if you are stumped, but we won’t know that unless you tell us. :)
5. What’s at the Core of the Problem?: Most interviewers really don’t need to know how you would build a refrigerator for someone in their teens, so think about the question and determine what they really want to know. More likely than not, we want to hear how you think, what assumptions you made, if you ask questions, if you bring a creative approach, etc. It’s not the answer that matters; it’s how you get there. So take your time, and determine what they are looking for. It’s not a race.
Well, my lunch break is over--- 6 more interviews to go today. Maybe some of my candidates will see these tips prior to their interview. I hope so.
-Janelle
15 Comments
bigkissy said:
Where do you guys interview in New York and New Jersey? No doubt Princeton, NYU, Columbia?
SDET to be said:
You Microsoft people are great, you help candidates greatly before and during the inteview; by tips, suggestions, links you send to us before the interview. What you really need from a candidate is clearly known in advance. Microsoft interviews are as a white box, nothing hidden, but any unexpectations that arrise make it more and more interesting.
Good luck to all who wish to join Microsoft, if it's your dream, then it worths doing your best to achieve it.
Andrew said:
Those are really good pointers. I'll have to brush up my software development lifecycle textbooks... oh and the answer is 42. Everyone knows that. ;)
Jason Haley said:
Aftab said:
I am really left with very few words to describe how I much I have respect for you and your whole JobsBlog team for all the efforts you people put into this blog to help all the to-be-in-Microsoft-one-day aspirants to realize their dreams. Thanks Janelle and the team for continuously sharing such valuable informations.
Aftab.
Chakkaradeep said:
This is a good post. I have always seen that, "talk out loud" and "asking clarifying questions" has helped me a lot !
Regards,
Chakkaradeep
Karthik said:
I am taking a wild guess that you will be interviewing at NJIT, Newark, NJ tomorrow and the day after. If you are, I will be interviewing with Miss Godfrey!!
After reading all your posts, I feel I know so much about the interview but then, I am not confident enough to face Microsoft. It would be great if you include the actual questions in the interview too and see how different people give different answers. Atleast samples!
Janelle said:
yes- we will be at NJIT! i won't be (as i just got back from the road-- 3 weeks straight-- i had a blast!) I was also recruiting at NYU, PAce and Rutgers in the NY/NJ area. :)
Janelle
said:
I've often heard the "ask clarifying questions, don't jump right into code" advice, but that flies in the face of my interviewing experience at MS. I tried that tactic at the beginning of the day, and by the end of the hour, I didn't have the complete solution to the interviewer's problem, but we were well on the way there. I got dinged for not writing enough code.
I think it's pretty much a crapshoot whether you get an interviewer that actually cares about your thought process, or just wants to see if you can figure out the one trick that will give you the solution to his problem in five minutes. Sadly, I've seen mostly the latter.
yaskil said:
I loved “What flavor cheesecake would you make for the Queen of England?” question. It is brilliant. Wonderfull. Thanks for sharing Janelle ;)
Andrew said:
Does that mean that only 3 were selected for the final round out of 42 candidates??......If thats the case, it must have been a very tough choice.
yaskil said:
there is not a certain number to hire. please read the following article ;)
<a rel="nofollow" target="_new" href="http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing3.html">http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing3.html</a>
john mariner said:
Hi Janelle,
I interviewed with Microsoft in May 2007 for a SDE position. The in-person interview in Redmond was a challenging all-day affair. Did not make it eventually. I wanted to ask if there is a policy in the Microsoft related to the time lapse after which a rejected candidate can apply once again?
Thank you
Mohammad Omer Nasir said:
Hi Janelle,
This is really help for us.
Regards,
Mohammad Omer Nasir
.
Microsoft's JobsBlog said:
Please welcome guest blogger Kenji Yamaguchi! Kenji is a staffing consultant for Windows Live Experience