How I ACED Microsoft Interview
Where will you be in five years? Who will you become? I have no idea where I'll be, but I'll always be somewhere where I'll have become a better, greater person.
“Where will you be in five years?”
Introduction
Hey Pirates, I'm PK, a Software Engineer at Microsoft and an ex-Software Engineer at Amazon and ebay. In this video, I will reveal my golden answer that mesmerized the hiring manager during my final interview at Microsoft. I immediately knew I won the interview because shortly after I delivered that finishing blow, the hiring manager asked “when can you start?” The story doesn't end there; he liked me and my interview so much that he even directed the recruiter to extend an offer with the maximum compensation for my level. Tl;dr, I'm going to unveil the secret weapon that helped me not only land the job at Microsoft but also walk away with a maxed-out compensation package.
Let me start by quickly giving you an overview of the Microsoft interview process. Like typical big tech companies, Microsoft's job application process consists of four stages: application, technical phone screen, onsite interview, and offer negotiation. I won't say much about the technical portion since it's just LeetCode. I'll emphasize, however, that I did clear every technical round flawlessly - something that's not always easy to do with a tech giant. But because I did ace coding, I could make bold moves during my final interview with the hiring manager. And even continue the momentum to my salary negotiation. I honestly don't think I would have been able to do so had the odds not been in my favor.
An interesting thing about my final interview with Microsoft is that it was either three or five rounds; you'd walk away without an offer with only three and with an offer with five. Simply put, if your first three interviews don't go too well, they may say goodbye without finishing the remaining two (take it with a grain of salt as things might have changed now). So when the hiring manager asked me to stay for two more hours after my third round, I immediately knew that things were in my favor (by the way, you can learn more about my strategies for acing an interview here).
Final Boss
Here I was - my final round. I walk into this room, the private office of the hiring manager, where he greets me with a smile. He shows me a chair. I sit. Look up. And there he is—the final boss of the game. "If I can only beat this guy…" I also noticed that he pulled out my resume on one of the three monitors on his desk. We started by breaking the ice—the usual stuff—then we talked a little about the previous technical rounds. How they were, how they went, what the most interesting question was, etc.
Then he asked about my experience at Amazon. He was keen to hear about it because I applied to Microsoft shortly after starting Amazon (learn more about why I quit Amazon). So I explained to him all my reasons, why I decided to leave so early, and why I think it makes sense to look for a new opportunity now. And after what seemed like a nod of understanding, he threw the big question.
Where will you be in five years?
I remember repeating the question, sighing, and then dropping my head. "Where will I be in five years?" I mean, what kind of question is that? I honestly didn't know what to say at that moment; I was literally blacked out. What would you say? Where will you be in five years? How about one year? The next month? I don't even know where I would be a month from now, yet this guy asked me where I'd be in five years! I think I had my head down for more than thirty seconds. I squeezed my brain to come up with a good answer. At the same time, I was thinking. I'm almost there; I just need to beat this final boss!
Time went by. Awkward silence continued. And I could see the hiring manager starting to grow impatient. I had to say something. Then I raised my head back up and remembered that my resume was on the monitor behind him. I gazed into my work history - my entire career journey as a software engineer. Where I worked, where I studied, and what I did - my whole life adventure (link to video: 12 Years in the Life of a Software Engineer). It's at this moment something "clicked."
I began. "You know. Let's not start by looking ahead but by looking back at the past five years. As you can see from my resume, I spent two years studying game development in Japan, another two working for ebay in South Korea, and less than a year working for Amazon in the US. When I graduated from CMU, I thought game development was my thing, so I flew to Tokyo; even I didn't imagine that I'd be getting my first full-time job at an eCommerce company, ebay, in South Korea. Then a few years later, I flew back to the US to join Amazon in Seattle - another unexpected turn of events. And only a few months after joining Amazon, here I am, facing you in what Amazon might call an enemy of them, interviewing in the very headquarters of their competitor.
Why would that be? Why am I jumping from place to place, job to job? I don't have an exact answer. But the number one thing I ask myself when switching jobs is how much I can learn and grow. So back to your question of where I'll be in five years, I honestly haven't the slightest idea where I'll be or what I'll be doing - whether it be a manager, a senior engineer, or even something completely different! But there's one thing that I know for sure. If there's a place such that the future me, five years later, looks back to the past me. And if that future me can say, 'Boy, have I learned a lot since then. Man, have I become a better, a greater person since then!' If there's such a place that I can say that, I'll be there."
“I haven’t the slightest idea where I’ll be in five years, but if there’s a place to help me become a better, greater person, I’ll be there.”
An open-ended answer to an open-ended question
So. I don't know about you guys. But I could see that the hiring manager loved my answer. Cuz the first thing he said was, "that's a great answer; probably the best I've ever heard in my life!" Then he began explaining why my answer was unique compared to others. He elaborated that it's his favorite question. And most of them answer by saying something like 'I will have become a manager,' 'a senior engineer whom others look up to,' or 'a technical leader who sets examples,' etc.
He then explained how he could ask follow-up questions indefinitely. "Why will you have become a manager?" "Why would you be a senior engineer?" "What makes you say that you'll become a leader?" The list can continue until the interview time clock expires. However, my answer was something he didn't expect! So he spent the remaining thirty minutes trying to waste time by asking random questions because he thought this question to be his last. Well, who's unprepared now!? 🤣 But he couldn't end the interview early either because he's supposed to take the full hour when interviewing a candidate per company policy. So I remember spending the last ten minutes talking about how soon I could start and what working at Microsoft would be like ;) He walked me out of the building, promising to get back to me in the next day or two. This is another promising sign because companies usually wait a week out of courtesy before formally rejecting a candidate..
So my recruiter did get back to me in two days. It was a Friday afternoon. I remember it because I had a wonderful weekend, free and happy :) She explained that my scores for all my interviews were very high, and the hiring manager really liked me. After several calls back and forth negotiating my salary, she extended an offer package maxed out for my level. The rest is history, and here I am, making a video about it 😎
So how's my story? FYI, I never shared this with anyone other than my family. "Where will you be in five years?" Honestly, I wasn't too fond of the question, but now that I think about it, it's a great interview plus an excellent life question we should all ask ourselves. Where will you be in five years? How will you answer it yourself? From my experience, one of the best ways to tackle an open-ended question is with an open-ended answer. Remember, I haven't the slightest idea where I'll be in five years. But if there's a place that'll help me become a better, a greater person, that's where I'll always be :)
