Interview with Tanya who made it to Microsoft

“My CGPA helped me to pass the criteria of being able to sit for the interviews and also helped build initial impression, but for getting the job the CGPA did not matter, what mattered was the learnings gained in trying to achieve it.”

In an exclusive interview with HireTale, Tanya Agarwal shares her journey. Currently, she is at Microsoft, Hyderabad. In this interview, we will find how she achieved it and where would she have been, had it not been Microsoft.

1) How would you introduce yourself to our readers?

My name is Tanya Agarwal. I am currently working as a Software Engineer in Microsoft India Development Centre at Hyderabad. Here I am working in Bing, Microsoft‘s Search Engine. I did my Bachelors in Technology in Computer Science field from LNMIIT Jaipur.
I don’t think, readers would want to know anymore.. (Laughs…)

2) You were first selected for an internship and then you were offered the job. Will you describe the whole process for our readers?

My senior did my referral during my third year for an internship because of which I was allowed to sit for the written test. Initially, there were two written tests conducted at a pool campus. After which was a couple of phone interviews followed by personal interviews. During the internship my manager feedback along which a couple of more interviews helped me get the job.

3) Your CGPA? We saw it on your resume. Is it really that much? How did you maintain that?

My CGPA was 9.98. I was able to maintain it by trying to grasp and understand the concepts taught and attend classes. You have to attend, it pays :p

4) How important/significant it had been in getting you the job? Any suggestion for our readers about CGPA?

My CGPA helped me to pass the criteria of being able to sit for the interviews and also helped build initial impression, but for getting the job the CGPA did not matter, what mattered was the learnings gained in trying to achieve it.

5) If a student has to get into Microsoft, what should he/she do? How should they prepare for it?

If a student has to get a job in Microsoft one should have strong basics and clear understanding of different concepts. To get in, coding knowledge is important and must.

6) Which team in Microsoft you are a part of? What is the kind of work? Culture?

I am in Bing, we work on various feature building of Bing and its products. Work culture is very flexible and as a learning environment where one gets opportunities to learn new things and experiment about it.

7) If not Microsoft, where would you have been and why?

If not in Microsoft I may have been studying further in some university specializing in some topic of computer science field.

8) Apple vs Microsoft vs Google has been a topic of discussion among techies a lot of times. Have you been ever dragged into such discussion?

All the big names have always been discussion topics and whenever I have experienced such debates have reached a conclusion that all of them have different strengths and weakness and all of them play on their strengths to get the recognition.

9) Final Question: Had you been an IITian, do you think, it would have been a better story for you all the way?

If I would have been an IITian things would have been better, the opportunity to sit for Microsoft’s interview would be easier, the competition would be a limited audience.

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