Microsoft Interview...

Well here's my first...exclude those that are not related to the professional computer science...first formal interview with microsoft recuiter...

I have to say that it is a really good experience...regardless of the final result...

Actually, todays interview proves my "live pattern" agian: all guys named "Steve" (or other equivalents) are nice, smart, good-looking guys...>_<

The Steve I've met today is exactly the same person that fits the descriptions in the profile...LOL...have a feeling that he is the older version of Steve L. in the next 20 years...or older?!

Off topic now...drag it back...= =

So i dressed up as required in the confirmation email: Be comfortable! Dress casually!

Which...surprised my roommates and my bro..."Are you sure you are wearing this to an interview?!"

After I quoted the email's content, they replied: "Yea...that sounds like what MS will be doing..."

ROFL...XD

Steve is really a nice looking...old man...

But like other typical IT guys, he keeps his shape while he's getting old...never like those who runs a business and transforms from a human being to a rolling meatball...

And...somehow important...Dry Hands!!!!!!!!

Though I don't mind holding someone's sweating hands...Only limited to that specific SOMEONE...zz

Well continue...We enter the interview room...then we sit, he asked if I have any questions for him to answer...

I kinda fail that part...wondering...I asked whether they care if I'm not as technical skilled as they expected...and how long does that intern last...

Answer to the first one is "I don't think it matters" nd to the second one is "It varies"...

Then is my turn to answer questions...

Hmm...Let's see...He asked what are the good days and the bad days in my life...

I said the good day is a day that I stayed up all night long to debug a program and found some new problmes then keep solving it until it become perfect under my standard...What I enjoyed is not only the success result, but the state of being working on a problem and solving it...that makes me think this is going to be my future career since I love it so much...

And then I said the bad day in my life can hardly be determined because whenever I look back after couple weeks I found out that it is not bad as it was...but if I really have to call one I think that will be the day I had my econ final last semester because I stayed up all night and made no progress on my review...I did bad on the econ but still pass the following CS and math finals...PHEW~

Steve seems to like my answers...so we moved forward...

He asked if I am a organized people...I said yes because we always plan our trips or events ahead and ensure that everything flows smoothly...etc.

Then is the problem solving part!!

He put a 6x6 dotted matrix on the white board (awww the small white board is so cute that reminds me my days in Bayside HS math team...zz)

And the question is : how many ways from the lower left to the upper right.

TOUGH...but i tired to make it clear that I do have some valid observations on this problem.

So I asked: you can't go backward, like going left of down, right?

He seemed interested and ask for why?

I told him if he can do backward then there will be infinitely many solutions.

Sounds like a valid point, I think he likes it.

So starting only going upward and rightward.

Then I throwed some other thoughts...then I found out that the total number of moves is 10.

Let's claim that's another valid observation...because he pointed out that people rarely notice that.

And blah blah blah...till he stopped me because we are running out of time.

Then he gave me a hint that in the 10 moves there are only 5 moves right and 5 moves up...LOL

At least he knew I am not dumb...zz

Next we sit down again and he ask if I am assigned to design a cellphone for kids, what are the senarios of this product...

I asked for the range of ages (well asking these questions can help...according to the MS blog)...

I mentioned that parents will concern about safety of their kids so the design should be simple...with some hidden hints thrown by Steve, I added that maybe the parents might no want the kids to call random people, so the phone book's size should be limited...and other things such as GPS, speed dials, emergency contacts...etc.

But during the discussion I actually fight back claiming that the market for this product could be limited or not as big as people assumed...if I am a parent I would like to have my kids stay away from electronics...blah blah blah...

At the end Steve gave me some good advises: first he think I should reconsider the intern I pursue...because he think I fit better in a project management position than a software developer...second one is in the further interview people might be asking me more questions like the cell phone ones...don't hesitate to ask for clarifications and try not to make assumptions that make no sense...

I really enjoy the talk with Steve...>_<

Now I can sit back and wait...well...maybe I should play couple games on gunbound to celebrate it?

GAME ON~~~