Was very random, and very bad. Disinterested interviewer. No clear pattern. Hiring manager kept on saying this is for Principal Engineer whereas I clearly applied for Principal Engineering Manager. Will definitely not recommend

A generic job description shared. Random set of interviewers who do not know for which role they are interviewing and interviewee background. I was shocked to see Engineering Managerial drives conducted similar to campus placement drives. A combination of contract recruiting staff and HR coordination made whole process even more painful. Since it is the "Microsoft" I went ahead here is what followed: I was able to clear the coding round. Interviewer is knowledgable and pleasant. For the second round - Design round, they did not have interviewer ready. Hence they set some one up after taking a long time who dozed off during the interview. Biggest farce is he said he thoroughly enjoyed conversation :D Could not make it to third round :) I think Microsoft Recruiting need to review their strategy. When hiring experienced professionals, it is important specific job description and evaluation strategy needs to be planned not a generic one. This way they can help themselves and give a positive experience to candidates irrespective of the result.