2008-03-08T13:54:00.000-08:00

Program Manager interviews at Microsoft can be a lot tricky. The bottom line being that one has to understand what “Program Management” actually means. I had my round of interviews about 5 months ago, the memories of the interview and the questions still steadfast in my head!

The story is pretty funny though; I actually didn’t per-se apply myself to the position. A good friend of mine spotted this opening and thought I would really enjoy it and bang, I got an interview call one fine day. The first round of interview (supposed to be a bit technical) lasted for about 25 minutes. Subsequently I had another 5 more rounds of interviews (the typical Microsoft style) – I’m sure you would all have read much about the kind of questions that were asked. It’s strange though that when you wish to prepare for something, it’s the path for preparation that is the most important since the questions shared are not typically the ones that you might always get .. So it’s good to know what to expect and this blog is particularly my perspective of what to expect (pretty much covers all areas of my preparation). I do not intend to say that this is all you would need to prepare for a PM interview at Microsoft (personal judgment on this would be the best for you). My only intention of positing this blog is to share my personal experience with the outside world and throw some light on my preparation process and give some interview tips.

I’ve categorized this blog into broader subsections –

General PM core competencies which I perceive are expected
General background knowledge
How to answer questions at PM interviews
PM concepts (good to know)
Other online references I had gathered.

So let us drill down into each of these subsections in greater detail now
General PM core competencies which I perceive are expected (TOP 10)
Here is a list of core competencies which in my perception are expected from a good PM –

Leadership
Positive attitude
Interest and passion for technology, people
Questioning attitude
Strong technical and technological backdrop
Open minded to problems – think before answering.
Customer focus, user centric
Aspire, plan, slog and achieve
Strong interpersonal, communication skills - Is able to verbalize thought process
Is open to alternate solutions/ options and not stop and stick to one personal best approach.

General background knowledge
Rule of thumb is know yourself very well .. know what you have said on the resume .. be highly prepared to answer both surface level and in depth questions on projects you have listed on your resume ..for example, my resume sports 2 years of work experience as a software engineer .. I had questions on the nature of work I was doing (to start with) .. I had actually developed a protocol/ library API for an open source call server. The next set of questions were very specific on the protocol per-se (didn’t expect it though) like was it sync/ async communication, thread model .. Also think for a minute about where you have been, where you are right now and where you would like to see yourself in the future .. remember a good PM is also someone who knows where his team has been (past learning’s, in this case, the team is just you), knows where the team is today (delivered as status update), has a target goal (project finish, in this case would be where you want to be in say 5 years) and has a future plan (project plans?). Some great questions (please look to reference section for more links to questions) which are always good to be prepared for –

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
How do you plan to get to where you aspire to get to
Why do you wish to work with Microsoft?
Why Program Manager position?
What are your expectations on this position?
What is your understanding of the position?
What are your strengths? [very important to know]
What are your weaknesses? [very very important to be self aware]
Your previous experience in Project Management?
Which is your most favorite place to work? (company)
Tell me the courses you liked and why did you like them.
Give an instance in your life in which you were faced with a problem and you tackled it successfully.
What is your ideal working environment.
Questions on the projects listed on the Resume.
Do you want to know anything about the company.( Try to ask some relevant and interesting question).

How to answer questions at PM interviews (the most interesting section)
Well, if you have had done your homework well by now, you would have known that one tip which is almost shared by every blogger for interviews at Microsoft is – to ask a lot of relevant and timely questions and to use the white board when you start drawing in air! .. that is quite true and made perfect sense to me. I prepared myself in a different style. I have always been methodical in my approach to things .. and so came up with this approach and it worked! Let me know what you think :)

1. Approach to Programming questions

Ask for an approach to the white board as soon as possible
Start out with basic block with input, output, what it does, what to do on exceptions.
Define the input and output further
Define the functioning algorithm of the block for the input
Define how exceptions are handled within the block or added as output
Define the test cases

Identify the break points for the variables passed in and processed like size limit on int or float or double
Pass non-expected input value (in all combinations)
Pass exception conditions (null pointers, divide by zero or whatever)
Attack on algorithm (breaking points)

Write the pseudo code (algorithm)
Write the code
Test it to prove it delivers the expected behavior

A figurative example of how I used the white-board

2. How to approach design questions

Ask for an approach to the white board as soon as possible
Redefine the problem in your own words to make sure you have understood the question – problem statement
Requirements gathering

Understanding who the end users are

Age
Personal preference?
Some background information

Understand what would be the core features of the system
Identify areas which are likely to change – what kind (if possible)
Identify and jot down business dependencies (if any)
Identify and jot down hardware dependencies (if any)
Identify performance, security, UI needs (if any)
Propose technological alternatives

Compare them against core-strengths

Security
Scalability
Accuracy
Ease of use
Consistency

Propose an optimal or personal choice

Assumptions/ limitations

Understand what kind of minimal (essential) functionality the system should achieve – from requirements gathering
Architect the system discussing about making it scalable, robust, secure, extendable

Discuss the limits of the architecture
Identify the integration thread
Identify the difficult design areas

Iteratively add the accidental/ additional features/ fine tuning
Define the use cases for the system (if they exist)
Design the system with data flow diagrams, how the functional blocks interact

A figurative example of how I used the white-board

3. How to approach a Mind Teaser question/ logic questions

Rephrase the question in your own words
Just think out loud.

4. Personal questions about projects/ previous experience

Be true and honest and don’t hesitate to bring out intricate details and accomplishments.

PM concepts (good to know)

SDLC?

Software Development Life Cycle – phases of software development.
Software Elements Analysis - Requirements gathering

Know who are the customers?
Know what has to be done – problem statement
Know when does this have to be implement – discuss possible time lines (get a gut feeling)

Domain Analysis
Specification
Software architecture/ Design
Implementation
Testing
Documentation
Training and support
Maintenance (bug fixes, patches)
Models

Waterfall model
Iterative process
V-model
Extreme Programming

RUP
Agile Programming

Project tracking techniques
Estimation techniques

Effort estimation
Work break down structure

Estimating code size
Time estimation
Resource estimation techniques
Conflict resolution
Customer Relations Management
Change Management
Project Risks/ Mitigation Strategies

Technological decisions

Which programming language to choose?
Which technology to propose?

Improve existing software/ functionality addition
Design/ Architecture Related Preparation

Design principles

Features of a good design

Constraints to choose a particular design
Difference between design and architecture

Other online references I had gathered

Questions - http://www.emicrosoftinterview.com/default.aspx - MUST SEE for RIDDLES
http://www.sellsbrothers.com/fun/msiview/default.aspx?content=question.htm
Questions - http://halcyon.usc.edu/~kiran/msqs.html
http://blog.mattgoyer.com/technical-interview-at-amazon-sde-and-microsoft-program-manager
http://adamjh.blogspot.com/2007/03/microsoft-program-manager-interview.html
http://blogs.msdn.com/jobsblog/archive/2004/04/26/120598.aspx
http://radio.weblogs.com/0105395/stories/2002/03/27/whatIsAMicrosoftProgramManager.html
http://blogs.msdn.com/descapa/archive/2007/03/24/program-manager-pm-interview-tips.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/farshid/archive/2007/05/10/what-does-a-microsoft-program-manager-do-demystifying-the-pm-role.aspx
http://www.tylerbutler.com/dailydose/Pages/MicrosoftProgramManagerInterviewTheBreakdown.aspx
Great one - http://blogs.msdn.com/farshid/archive/2007/05/10/what-does-a-microsoft-program-manager-do-demystifying-the-pm-role.aspx
Logic problems - http://www.cut-the-knot.org/algebra.shtml
Just great source of PM questions - http://www.pmconnection.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=27
Steven Sinofsky's Microsoft TechTalk - http://blogs.msdn.com/techtalk/archive/2005/12/16/504872.aspx
More Questions - http://www.interviewrx.com/discuss/fullthread$msgNum=34
What Janelle expects - http://blogs.msdn.com/jobsblog/archive/2007/10/30/whatwelookfor.aspx
Janelle Preparation help - http://blogs.msdn.com/jobsblog/archive/2007/11/05/problemsolvingquestions.aspx
Unix Design Philosophy - http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ch01s06.html
Microsoft F# - http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2212215,00.asp

Hope you would find all these information useful and good luck with your interviews :)

2006-10-30T14:04:00.000-08:00

My website has been listed in the DMOZ project under the category Computers > Speech Technology > Research. Please do feel free to check out the page listing (and other sites which are also listed with mine) at http://dmoz.org/Computers/Speech_Technology/Research/

2006-09-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

I've successfully completed my PGDBA course with symbiosis and now hold a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration, specializing in finance! I believe the degree will be conferred to me in December 2006.

2006-09-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

Alas, landed at UB and have updated the same on my blog .. check it out! :)

2006-09-01T14:29:00.000-07:00

Landed at UB and have updated my home page to reflect my latest research and course work at UB .. an exciting place to be at ! - definitely

Huh good news

2006-04-11T00:07:00.000-07:00

Huh .. good news
I have been offered admission to Masters program in computer science with a couple of universities at the USA. Have decided to move on and will resign my current job with virtusa in about 2- 21/2 months from now! (

Products page added

2006-01-19T00:19:00.000-08:00

Products page added

Glad to announce the addition of products page to my website.
You can find the page at http://www.products.vishwacsena.co.in

So this is it my vac

2005-10-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

So this is it, my vacation is over .. ! I’m getting back to Chennai tomorrow, and possibly this will be my last blog for this vacation from trichy. !:)
Planning for amazing things from Chennai, and hope this quarter will be quite interesting and fascinating as planned and expected. ! (

Hi-another blog from trichy

2005-10-12T11:06:00.000-07:00

Hi
This is yet another post by me from my home town. Things are moving at a pretty slow pace here .. I’m not doing much now-a-days .. planning to build a audio amplifier by myself and planning to get some electronic kit to do the same. I’m also planning to start studying a lot more of electronics related books, as I feel they would be really required for me, for my future. Will have to visit a couple of temples around trichy of religious importance. Hope to make my trips pretty soon.
Will try to blog again from trichy, else will start my work full fledged from Chennai.

I have come on a vac

2005-10-02T03:25:00.000-07:00

I have come on a vacation to my home town Trichy. I should be back at Chennai by 16’th to continue all my good work from there. Till then, it will be a bit difficult to update my website as I don’t have access to web that easily from here!
So its gonna be some time away from the web (about 2 weeks in all huh ! ( )

Hi

2005-09-14T21:47:00.000-07:00

Hi
This is just a test post from my winword using the plugin
Sounds to be kewl.

Welcome to my personal blog

2005-09-14T01:51:00.000-07:00

Hi

This is much more easier way of keeping in touch with me and knowing about me.
This is my personal blog.
Looking forward to update this page everyday.
Please refer to this page to know the latest information about me.