Freedo !: About interview

some samples picked from candidates' resume

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 13:57:59 GMT

Will keep this subject updated.

Resume 1:

职业特长和技能
熟悉UNIX、WINDOWS操作系统
熟悉VB、VC、PB、DEPHI、ASP、JSP、JAVA、C++、C等编程语言
熟悉ORACLE、SQL SERVER、INFORMIX、SYSBASE等数据库

Resuem 2:

"I am familiar with mainstream software developing tools, technologies
and methods, such as VB, C, C++, C#, Java, J2EE, Python, SQL, Web, XML,
STL, UML, RUP... I am a good programmer, a good designer, and a good
project leadership also. "

I would reckon these descriptions as: have knowledge but good at nothing.

SQL interview thoughts

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 12:36:43 GMT

举行完了两天的微软SQL team 有两点想法,也是从 interviewer 那边得到的 feedback 和大家分享一下:

第一点是关于 campus student 的。

从 interviewer 那边得到的反馈是，有部分campus candidate 不够 cooperative, 或者说比较elegant，说白了就是可能无意中流露出的那种自我优越感。

然后在讨论的时候说不是由于，家庭包括成长的环境都不一样，70和80年代出生的有代沟，然后加上成绩比较优秀，也相对地比较聪明，所以就自我感觉好一些。

先不说，他们的 code 是不是真的象自我感觉的那样好，首先提出来的一点看法是: 聪明人不一定工作是最出色的。

微软看似比较强调招的人要 smart ，其实态度也非常重要。所以，对所有的大学生来说，毕业的学校不要紧，成绩的好坏不要紧，态度到哪里都要紧。

有个campus 招聘来的学生，在这里名字就不点了，面试经理在时隔多月后还对他记忆犹新，除了确实 coding 很好，对于自己的自信的程度，也把握得恰如其分。

第二点是关于 SDET (software development engineer of test) 的职位：

在业内，从事测试在很多公司里面是简单，重复的工作，在微软则大为不然，做 SDET 的要求比对做开发要高。

有一个候选人，他的代码能力完全可以胜任做开发的工作，但是他却没有被选上，因为他面试的是测试开发程师。在微软，测试开发工程师除了要和开发工程师一样的编程能力之外，非常重要的是 " problem solving", "debugging" , "system thinking" , 如果再加上两条的话还要是个人的直觉和独特的看待分析问题的能力。

相比较而言，开发工程师更容易招聘。如果你被微软选为测试开发工程师，那要恭喜你（微软上海服务器开发及工具事业部的总经理就是测试工程师出身 :) ）。

Interview for Microsoft SQL Server team

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:35:08 GMT

I'm back, talking about interviews in SQL team again :)

在今天的内容里想谈一谈关于微软SQL team 的面试，只是就一点个人的看法。

通常的微软SQL TEAM面试流程是：

－在收到候选人的简历之后（在今后我会花一些时间讨论怎样写简历），HR会花时间检查，然后跟候选人约电话面试。

－电话面试之后，依据候选人的情况，决定是否向hiring manager（以下简称HM）推荐。

－然后HM依然会独立来作出判断，是否需要对候选人进行进一步的电话面试，或者直接邀请on site interview，或者是不面试。这一过程通常需要5至10个工作日。

－受邀请的候选人参加on site interview。面试结束之后，一般我们也会在5至10个工作日内通知是否录用。

以上的过程是微软面试的一般流程，视情况而异，我们有时候也会把中间的过程缩得很短，可能当天电话面试，第二天就约on site.

我想先谈一下HR的电话面试，直白地说，也就是跟我之间的沟通，呵呵

很多人在面试时都会问我是SQL哪一个TEAM的，什么职位，因为我会问相当多的数据库和技术方面的问题，但是我是HR，只不过一直对技术和编程保持着一份兴趣罢了。有些工程师下班以后可能不拿编程作消遣，我下班以后有时候（经常）拿编程作消遣。

我只是很浅地接触过：

VFP, Delphi, c/c++/php/sql/mysql/jsp.

电话面试通常是用英文来进行的。遇到比较多的一个问题是，我遇到有候选人问我，微软的面试题怎么会这么简单。

我想说的是，因为我只是HR，不是专业的高手，呵呵，开个玩笑。

其实，在电话面试以及后面的 on site interview中都会有一些问题，比如说 open question，是相当地简单的，它不涉及到很深的技术问题，或者甚至是，只要学过编程的，都会做。

但是我想说的是：

第一，简单的问题其实不简单。

因为我们要招的不是编程的爱好者，我们要招的资深的产品研发工程师。

所以，同样看待一个简单的问题，不同能力的候选人写出来的代码水平是不一样的。要通过编译并不难，要站在软件工程的角度来看待一个很简单的问题，这就是你的水平了。

不幸的是，我遇到的比较好地解答出来简单问题的候选人不多。其实有的时候候选人要更多地考虑，为什么面试者会问这一个问题？至少我怎么才能写出健壮的代码，考虑到安全性，日后的维护性，测试的需要等等。

只有这样才能完整地看到 whole picture, 想到更多编程之外的东西。

由这一点引发出来

第二点：不要急于跳下水。

有些候选人接到题目以后习惯性地就开始解答或者写代码，先不要着急，想一想。候选人的反应快与慢，并不是我们考察的最重点，重要的是，是不是能够回到到 point 上面。

所以，一问，二想。不要害怕自己问出来的问题不够好或者恰当，或者担心自己用英文表答的问题。

微软的人都是被challenge大的, (呵呵，开玩笑的)，不要害怕问问题，不要害怕自己问错了问题，问重复了问题。如果不敢问问题，其实从某方面反应了候选人是没有能力或者没有动机把技术问题深究下去的。

想一想，如果等你跳下了水，游到一半，然后发现跳错了河，那该怎么办？

第三点：难题不难。

不要担心，SQL TEAM面试的目的不在于要难倒你，至少我完全不会。遇到难的问题冷静地想，有些问题我们SQL TEAM面试到现在也没有候选人能够给出来正确答案的，我们主要是看：

1, 有没有在积极地想，还是过早放弃； 2, 如何想，能不能给出清楚的思路，是否有逻辑性。 3, 能否有一个 whole picture.

第三点其实最容易的，因为我想即便读中学的时候，老师也教导过，考试的时候遇到不会的题千万别空着吧。

第四点：为什么加入SQL TEAM？

SQL TEAM ， Windows, Office 在微软内部是并架齐驱的三驾马车，目前在SQL TEAM全球有近1500 人的研发队伍， 14个 technical follow(在微软，工程师所能达到的至高点) 中,有两个在sql.

在你参加正式的面试之前，你需要仔细考虑，今天的职业规划是什么，为什么想要加入 SQL ?

我们认为，一个没有对产品和客户有高度热忱的工程师，即便面试再出色，也不会hire.

想要了解更多的sql 中国的team, 也可以看这个blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/prakas/

第五点：体力上准备好了吗？

通常在SQL TEAM的面试需要经历至少三轮，甚至更多。也就是说会有三个以上的面试者跟你进行一对一。通常是你坐在一个房间内，一轮面试大约是一个小时，然后紧跟着换第二个，第三个，往往到了后面第四五轮的时候更是对精力的挑战。

所以，在面试的时候你可以：自由提出来，如果需要如厕，喝水。

在面试之前的一天晚上，睡一个好觉。如果你觉得红牛，力宝健，日加满对你有用，那么就放两瓶到你的包里。顺便说一句，微软有免费的咖啡供应，面试的时候如果你想来一杯，自由地提出来。另外饮料也是免费的，有茶类，可乐，汽水，朱古力等。

来面试的当天，轻装就行了。

需要了解有关更多的微软面试，也可以在这儿进行讨论：

我的up9rade网站: www.up9rade.com

How does Microsoft culture apply in interview?

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 09:25:37 GMT

我对于微软的文化在面试中的体现的一点理解：

微软的文化用6个方面来概括：

Integrity & Honesty Passion

Open&Respectful Accountable

Big Challenges Self-Critical

其中第一条就是讲诚信。以上六条，在招人的时候违反了任何一条，都会对组织的肌体健康产生不利影响，首当其冲的，认为就是第一条。

在面试当中，也会有很多地方可能会违反这一条：比如说，个人的经历，个人的待遇，个人的工作表现等等。

有个例子是，我们曾经面试过某公司的一名主管，在讲到个人工作业绩的时候，他说他是他们那儿的star performer, 碰巧我们后来也面试了他的上级，他的上级讲到了他花很多时间帮助一名工作表现比较差的员工，说的就是他。所以，象这样的员工，我们一定不会聘用他。

有很多时候，可能问到个人的具体问题，你也许记不清了，比如说具体的进入某公司的工作时间等，在这种情况下，宁可说需要给你一点时间，回去确定一下，也不要随便编一个。在对待个人简历、工作经历等的时候都要注意这一点。对这一点，微软采取的是零容忍的政策，有的时候即便我们找不到证据证明你是否撒了谎，可是面对在诚信方面有疑问的员工，我们会予以拒绝。

Open&Respectful

这是双方的，对微软来说，我们要求在对待候选人的时候，有礼貌和坦诚。对候选人提的问题认真倾听，在不涉及公司利益的情况下予以解答。在招聘的时候，对予聘用或者不聘用，不会有under table的理由。

对候选人来说，面试中当你觉得你受到了不好的对待的时候，你可以同联系你的招聘人员投诉。

另一方面来说，如果你觉得我们在跟你进行电话面试的时候，你周围的环境不是太方便，可以提出来要求换一个时间。

我们也会有遇到候选人随随便便跑进来，问到他为什么希望加入微软，他的回答是：来看看，取决于你们的条件. :)

Big Challenges

在微软，并不如外界所想象的那样，人人都是咄咄逼人的一幅神态，但是能确定的是，大家都不满足于仅仅是做好一件事情，懂得技术的一个方面。

有一个编程编了超过十年的高级程序员来面试微软的一个职位时，我问他下一个职业目标是什么，他回答是希望做到一个位置，能够不用再编程。因为年纪的原因。

这也涉及到了下一个方面：

Passion

微软内部在工程技术岗位上没有纯粹的 people manager, 只管人，不用管技术。所以 manager也要coding, 只不过是在时间比重上的分配不同而已。对于技术和客户的 Passion 是驱动我们永远向前的引擎。

Accountable

你很幸运，通过了面试，我们问到你，什么时候最快能够来上班？你说你现在不能确定，因为你手上有一个对公司很重要的项目，希望能够和上级先就具体的时间进行协商。没问题，你的选择会受到尊重，因为我们相信，你是一个负责任的人。

Self-Critical

这是对我个人来说感受最深的一条，来微软面试的有很多都是很聪明而且业绩很好的。

没有人是完美的。谦逊不仅是美德，也是促使一个人不断前进的动力。

我们有遇到一位毕业了两年的候选人比较坚持要面试微软的高级工程师的职位，我们并不会以一个人的工作年限来作为评价的条件，但是你的面试还在后头呢。。。

另外一种情况是，有人喜欢为自己的面试找借口：

对不起，当时我处在不方便讲话的状态下（这个借口不make sense, 因为在那种情况下你完全可以提醒我们或者要求换一个时间）；

你也知道，面试总归是有很多因素的。。。（我们知道，但是你的成绩确实不理想 :=) ）

微软面试生存手册 How to attend Microsoft inerview?

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 14:30:13 GMT

First of all, want to, interview in Microsoft is challenging, but the purpose is not that. We definitely won't feel "happy" if you could not answer.

To me, on discussing technical questions, it's free for candidates to speak in Mandarine, or give me examples.

If they feel not comfortable on their performance, I will tell them, it's okay, please tell me what is your strong area other than we keep probing on previous direction. So, do remember, you could change the topic even questions on interviewing.

Up to you, treat that as a fun exploring experience.

Back to the topic, here you are, very comprehensive, "manual of how to survive"....

General Interview Tips

As you know, in the computer industry you have to anticipate how technology will operate five or more years down the road. To do that well means working through tough challenges no one may have even faced before. So our goal in your interview is to see how your mind works as you solve problems. This helps us get a better sense of what you're capable of, as well as what you've accomplished.

No matter what your area of interest, Microsoft interviews are designed to be challenging and thought-provoking. Here are a few basic tips to help you do your best:

• Dress comfortably. Wear whatever makes you most comfortable. The people interviewing you are likely to be casually dressed.

• Be open about your skills. Be up front about what you do or don't know. If you don't have an exact skill that an interviewer asks you about, don't panic! It's more important to us that you're a quick learner.

• Show your work. In other words, we want to know how you think. The process you use to arrive at an answer is even more important to us than the answer itself.

• Ask a lot of questions. Your natural curiosity is one of your biggest assets as a potential hire. Thoughtful, insightful questions will show that you're serious about making an impact at Microsoft. And, if you don't understand a question, don't be afraid to ask the interviewer to clarify.

• Try not to second-guess yourself. Don't spend too much energy trying to figure out how things are going and don't let one mistake get you down. Fact is, getting stressed out may inhibit your performance. Remember, what may seem like a big deal to you may not matter at all to your interviewers.

• Eat well and get enough sleep. Make sure you have the fuel and rest you need to stay relaxed and quick on your feet.

What kinds of questions should I expect?

• Technical Questions—If appropriate to your area of interest, technical questions will be asked that likely involve a technical discussion of projects you've worked on. Don't be afraid to stand up and write code on the whiteboard, draw your solution, or ask questions for clarification.

• Ambiguous Situational Questions—These questions can be hypothetical ("What would you do?") or reflective ("What have you done?") They're asked so you can show us what you've got. We need original, creative thinkers, and our interview process is designed to help us find those people. When in doubt, ask for clarification.

• Process Thinking Questions—These invite you to verbalize your thought process as you work through a technical issue, design question, or problem-solving puzzle. Remember, it's not always the end result we're looking for but the process you took to get there and your ability to clearly articulate it to others.

Will the interviews be in Mandarin or English?

Our office’s official communication is English, but a lot of informal communication happens in Mandarin. Some of your interviews may be with native English speakers and some of them may speak little or no Mandarin. If you have difficulty understanding them, just try to relax and ask them to speak slower. We understand that you may not have the same level of English skills as native speakers, but we want to see you do your best to communicate in English because in your job you will often be using it. Occasionally an interview may switch into Mandarin to allow you to further explain yourself if something comes up that is hard to explain in English.

How many interviews will I have?

Most candidates have three interviews when they visit us in Zizhu. Sometimes we ask candidates to stay a little longer to meet with additional interviewers if we have more things to consider about the candidate but in most cases it is no more than five. You can expect that you might meet with people from a variety of disciplines and we often consider candidates for more than one job and team during the interview day.

Software Design Engineer (SDE) and Software Design Engineer in Test (SDET) Interview Prep

For SDE Candidates:

Be ready to code (a lot!). Brush up on your C/C++ skills, as our interviewers love to ask questions related to linked lists, loops, arrays and pointers, etc. When answering a coding question, think of the pros and cons of each solution. Then, once you decide to move ahead with a solution, be ready to explain why you chose that approach. Also, be sure to test your code before you say you're done.

In your SDE interview, be prepared to:

• Discuss coursework, projects, and work experience in specific terms.

• Share the practical application of any theory you reference.

• Demonstrate your technical knowledge (e.g. programming, design, or test).

• Talk about the projects, work experiences, or classes that you enjoyed the most and learned the most from.

• Discuss the most challenging project you completed in specific terms, including:

• Project scope (goals, customers, accomplishments, complexity)

• Technical skills you applied (gathered customer requirements, designed, programmed, or tested)

• Technical tools you employed (C, C++, C#, VB, SQL, Assembly)

• What you learned from your experience

For SDET Candidates:

An SDET's primary responsibility is to write code-often in the thousands of lines, usually built from scratch. In this role, you'll write automated testing tool suites and developer tools used only within Microsoft. Our SDETs write a lot more code than SDEs because, rather than tweaking a huge product code base, they're usually working in the realm of, "We don't have a tool. We need a tool. I'll write that tool." Our SDETs also own the complete product cycle for the tools they build, so there's a high sense of end-to-end code ownership.

In your SDET interview:

• Expect to be asked to test different features for the groups with which you interview. Be sure to test functionality, stress, boundary, error, security, and localization.

• Your ability to categorize the various test cases you come up with is important, so structure really helps.

• Try to come up with as many cases as possible. Even when you think you're done, push a bit harder and think of a couple more. Be creative!

a good Job Description

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 09:49:29 GMT

A good job description indicates there're really something behinding the words, here is one example:

Quote from douban:

http://www.douban.com/about?topic=teamup

技术团队的一般性描述

我们倾向于组建一个小的精英技术团队。

1. 热爱程序, 热爱设计, 热爱逻辑的美感。认为代码水平的提高是永无止境的；
2. 有能力跟踪和学习最新的软件技术，经常在各个open source项目的英文邮件列表里和开发者直接沟通, 并提供bug report或者贡献patch；（我们热爱还在SVN里的open source软件)
3. 有良好的自我管理能力、创新情结和创业心态。乐于沟通和提供帮助。

If you meet 1 & 2, may try with Microsfot as well.

Again, we are building the best place to work for, for people who interested in Database R&D around east & south Asia.

interpunctions, some useful during interviewing

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 14:12:36 GMT

Do you know how to speak "&", "*", "$" ? They will be frequently mentioned in phone interivew. *_^

． period or full stop 句号
， comma 逗号
： colon 冒号
； semicolon 分号
！ exclamation mark 惊叹号
？ question mark 问号
- hyphen 连字符
* asterisk 星号
' apostrophe 所有格符号，单词内部的省略
— dash 破折号
_ underscore
‘ ’ single quotation marks 单引号
“ ” double quotation marks 双引号
( ) parenthesis or round brackets 圆括号
[ ] square brackets 方括号
<> Angle brackets 尖括号
{} curly brackets or braces 大括号
《》French quotes 法文引号；书名号
... ellipsis 省略号
¨ tandem colon 双点号
" ditto 同上
‖ parallel 双线号
／ slash or virgule or diagonal mark 斜线号
＆ ampersand = and
～ tilde or swung dash 代字号
§ section; division 分节号
→ arrow 箭号；参见号
| vertical bar 竖线
\ backslash 反斜线

＋ plus 加号；正号
－ minus 减号；负号
± plus or minus 正负号
× is multiplied by 乘号
÷ is divided by 除号
＝ is equal to 等于号
≠ is not equal to 不等于号
≡ is equivalent to 全等于号
≌ is equal to or approximately equal to 等于或约等于号
≈ is approximately equal to 约等于号
＜ less than sign 小于号
＞ more than or greater than sign大于号
≮ is not less than 不小于号
≯ is not more than 不大于号
≤ is less than or equal to 小于或等于号
≥ is more than or equal to 大于或等于号
％ per cent 百分之…
‰ per mill 千分之…
∞ infinity 无限大号
∝ varies as 与…成比例
√ (square) root 平方根
∵ since; because 因为
∴ hence 所以
∷ equals, as (proportion) 等于，成比例
∠ angle 角
⌒ semicircle 半圆
⊙ circle 圆
○ circumference 圆周
△ triangle 三角形
⊥ perpendicular to 垂直于
∪ union of 并，合集
∩ intersection of 交，通集
∫ the integral of …的积分
∑ (sigma) summation of 总和
° degree 度
′ minute 分
″ second 秒
＃ number …号
℃ Celsius system 摄氏度
＠ at 在

will my current level & salary impact Microsoft's offer?

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 14:20:28 GMT

There are always 2 kinds misunderstanding about Microsoft's offer...

The first one is:

If I'm currently earning, I think it's much lower than the market pay, will I get a lower pay compares with other peers?

Second is: If my work experience is less than peers for same position, will I get ....?

Some candidates tend to think so.

Actually it's not. As a genius in software industry, we are not beating competitors, providing outstanding service by lower the cost, instead, value people, invest on their future, believe we are competitive because of we have talents with high innovation. I said so because not all of the software companies do.

So, the factor will impact your salary level is the competency & potential for future development, i.e leadership & team management etc. There is nothing to do with your current income.

The basic phylosophy is treat people fair, and don't make use of their disadvantages.

What does that mean, if I didn't get notification from Microsoft?

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:13:32 GMT

You are interviewed, no matter it is phone interview or by face, and you didn't get notification after that.

What does that mean?

Normally,Microsoft's interview for technical job, the response circle won't take more than 5 working days, i.e. 1 week.

So far I have not seem a response longer than 1 week.

when this happens, mean 3 things:

1. It's an end of your waiting period, for this position, at this time. What we do is, we do will recommend some interviewed candidates to other product groups, if we think unfortunately do not have appropiate positions for you for this product group. Always hire for Microsoft first.

2. It means Microsoft is not lucky enough to have you in. I mean this seriously. Please do not take the interview as a benchmark. Every been interviewed, no matter is a phone or face interview, they already have the strong skill sets. For example, I have met some genious guys, they could optimize data warehouse in amazing smooth way, they are from some internet service providing company and are the key players. It's more important for you to find yourself than joining certain company.

3. You could certainly apply again. The previous interview feedback has no impact to your next interview, people & Microsoft both growing, we do have some people joining after second or third times applicatoin. We thank for your great interests towards us.

Trust your fingers or use a chalk?

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:02:40 GMT

Trust your fingers or use a chalk?
-在微软面试的Tips 1

在公司打IP电话,你也许会说不出来自己的授权密码是什么,但是你一定会说: My finger knows,只要在

电话机面前,你的手指会拨出那个号来.

如果把这个经历放在面试当中,面对一块白板,"而不是你熟悉的键盘", 你的coding会受到影响吗?

在面试的时候有碰到候选人说:面对白板,他找不到感觉,没有办法正常地发挥.

在那个时候深吸一口气,calm down,不如在来之前做做功课.

几点小建议供你参考:

在微软面试做开发(SDE)或者做测试(SDET),一定会当场考你的Coding,所面对的就是一块白板和一支白板笔.

字写得不好看没有关系,只要能辨认 :)

白板与电脑的另一个重要区别是,你不能做debug,所以, 在上面coding的时候,建议把行间距拉得宽一些,便于修改. 通常来说, 不会让你做很长的coding,当然如果你只能想到通过很长的coding来解决问题的除外 :P

放松你自己,找一找当老师的感觉吧 :D