Offer From Microsoft
Preparation
This summer, while doing research with Professor Schumaker, I got this idea: why not find an internship at big Tech Company right before my grad school?
So I start to prepare in August. I do have applied to Google and Microsoft for internship last year, but I did that too late. So it turns out that I got an open offer from Google but did not match any team. For Microsoft, I passed the first round but they did not have enough headcount to even schedule a final round for me.
With some experience, I made a plan for applying to Tech Companies. The most important thing is the problem solving skill, namely to solve algorithm problem on white board. I use Leetcode, a free website, and the famous Cracking the Code Interview to prepare.
I got email from Microsoft at mid August and we schedule an onsite interview in Early October. Before that all I did is actually just going over all the courses in CS department that I have took and to keep practicing.
Interview
Last Monday, I flew all the way from Nashville to Seattle, Microsoft Campus at Redmond. The interview is scheduled at 7:30 a.m and I have to get up at about 6:30 as I stayed in a hotel 20 mins away from the building by taxi.
The interview consists of 4 rounds, each around 45 mins, from 8:00 to 12:00. Due to confidentiality concerns, I cannot disclose any problems that I got. But the overall process is pretty smooth. The interviewers are pretty nice, most of them have been working for Microsoft for more than 10 years. The group I am interviewing with are Azure group and the intern and fulltime offer that I got later are all for this group.
After the interview, all the interviewees are brought to the Microsoft campus dining hall, called Commons, for lunch. I made accquaintance with some of the interviewees from all over the U.S. Though the food is not that tasty, I did have a good time there.
After that, we were dismissed and I went directly back to my hotel since I really didn't sleep well the night before.
Offer
Two days ago, I finally got my offer as an intern. I used the word 'finally' because generally they made decisions within few days. The reason I got a delay is hilarious. It turns out that I have a pretty messy handwriting and they kept a wrong phone number in the system. My recruiter has been calling me since last Wednesday, when they have already made a decision.
Just like the good old Chinese phrase, "好事多磨", which means good fortune may come after some amount of troubles. Since I am graduating next year right before my intern starts, I have no idea how and where to get a kind of VISA to legally work in U.S. So I called my recruiter and tried to get some advice.
That's when I got the news that since I am eligible for a fulltime position, they decide to just give me a fulltime offer. If I preferred to go to grad school later, I can decline it and rearrange it into an intern!
This is amazing and totally surprising!! Later one of my friends who work at Facebook told me, it may due to my good performance at the interview that Microsoft thought I am qualified for a direct fulltime offer. Now my faith for graduate school is shaken. Some friends suggested me to work for a few years first and then go for grad. Since I am undergoing this tedious and consuming graduate school application process, I really don't know what's the right choise.
Hopefully when I look back at this post next year, I have already made a promising decision and won't regret for it in the further future. We will see.