Microsoft

We care about our people 

Benefits play an important role in your choice of employer. At Microsoft, we believe work shouldbe challenging, yet rewarding.

It’s vital that we provide industry-leading benefits to all of our valued employees.starting with a competitive salary, bonus, and stock award package, we continue to reward eligible employees based on their individual performance. However, the benefits don’t stop there. Here’s a snapshot of some of our unique offerings.

Graduate Benefits

The Office Ireland Development Team is part of the worldwide multi-billion dollar Office business.We will design and build solutions, services and dynamic content that allow our hundreds of millions of users to be more productive, and to create amazing content.

Compelling new scenarios will be delivered for Office.com, a Microsoft website with over a billion page views / 200 million visitors per year; for Office applications (such as Word and Excel – the biggest software franchise on the planet); and for the Office Server products (such as SharePoint).

We are a team with a strong focus on innovation, collaboration and execution. Our background is in solving complex problems with powerful, simple solutions.  We enable new business models and new scenarios, applying new thinking in processes, design, and solutions.  We place a great emphasis on achieving strong results in an environment that is fun, collaborative and that challenges you to grow.  We are proud to be voted Ireland’s best workplace 3 years in a row.

What are Software Development Engineers & SDEs in Test?

Responsibilities:

Software Development Engineer responsibilities include specification, architecture, design, development, unit testing and integration of software components. Software development touches all levels of the software stack, including client and server side components. Ownership will be demonstrated through vision, leadership as well as technical execution and coding. You are able to take a feature area all the way from architecture to deployment and produce high quality code that is secure, performant, and scalable. Microsoft is continually innovating and developing the Office suite of products, so a self-driven attitude to dealing with new problem areas and a natural ability to innovate is essential.

You will extensively collaborate with the Office teams and because of this, it is essential that the successful candidate has proven communication skills for optimal alignment between the teams. The ideal candidate is pro-active, shows ability to see the big picture and can prioritize the right work items in order to optimize the overall team output.

As a Software Development Engineer in Test, your role is to design testing strategies, plan and develop the associated tools, execute, analyze and ultimately drive the product quality upwards. Your experience in testing consumer products will play a critical role in analyzing bug patterns and devising test plans that best fit the product scope and business goals. You are the gatekeeper and are responsible for the quality of a product and deciding whether a product is ready to be shipped or not.

Ownership will be demonstrated through vision, leadership as well as technical execution and coding.

You will collaborate with different teams and disciplines on broader test initiatives as part of the Office group. You will need to demonstrate technical strength in both coding and testing skills locally within the Irish team and globally as part of the broader Office organization. Abilities in identifying new testing processes and approaches as well as being an influential team player are key to the role.

SDEs & SDETs…

• Technically knowledgeable
• Have strong technical abilities, logical thinking and good problem solving abilities
•  Passionate about software design and development in C++ and/or C#
• Have the ability to work with and understand a large codebase, including how the various features and components interact and potential changes may impact the systems.
• Persuasive communicators
• Structure information well, and can present ideas coherently
• Are excellent communicators and are confident in what they argue
• Passionate
• Continually seek and act upon feedback, both for the feature they are developing and in their own personal development
• Have opinions about the Microsoft Office products and competitors’ products / websites.
• Are passionate about technology.
• Make a real difference to the bottom line, often by designing & testing product features that will deliver millions of dollars of value at Microsoft

Our graduate program…

• 3 year graduate program. All positions are permanent positions in Microsoft
• Dedicated training and development program, designed specifically for graduates to help you build your professional network and drive your career development
• Exciting career paths within our business groups in Ireland and Internationally!
• You’ll join a large network of graduates and grad alumni members within Ireland and International.
• Join an active development community! The EDC hosts a chapter of “The Garage”, a group of technical graduates and interns dedicated to creating the next technology innovations inside Microsoft!  
• Competitive salaries
• 25 days holidays each year
• Pension
• Health Insurance
• Performance based bonus
• Flexible working hours 

CV/Online Application Form

Ensure that you include all details and fill in all sections, so that we have all the information we need. Please be sure to fill in as many fields as possible, as the data is critical for our recruitment process.

Student Evaluation Screens 

You may not have been asked to fill out a questionnaire such as this in the past. The questions are designed to let us know more than what is on your CV, so think about your examples carefully. We also want to know what kind of projects you want to work on, so be honest.

Coding Tests 

If you are applying for one of our technical programmes you will be asked to write code as part of this year's evaluation process, as that is a key competency for our technical positions. Be sure to read the question carefully, write the best code you can, test it, and implement the most elegant solution you can. More code does not necessarily mean “good code”. Also, the test will be timed, so plan your approach in advance so you don’t leave key steps out of your process.

Assessment Centres

An assessment centre involves coming on-site with other candidates and taking part in a number of exercises throughout the day. It will give you the opportunity to see what Microsoft is like and to meet some of the managers. The exercises will rate you against core competencies that we feel are important for any Microsoft employee. The exercises may include a case study, group exercise, presentation, and technical exercise.

(Assessment centres will be used this year for Business & MACH Graduate Candidates only.

“Don’t try and play a role, be yourself. This helped me throughout the assessment because I gained confidence throughout the day. If you are just yourself and put your best foot forward, that is all anyone wants from you. This allowed me to focus on my strengths and gave me the opportunity to ‘shine my own light’.” —Ciara, MACH

Interviews

Interviews at Microsoft give you the opportunity to find out more about our company, including the various groups and the specific roles on offer. It also gives us the opportunity to get to know more about you. Use this time to ask any questions you have and make sure that you have all the information you need about the roles on offer, our programmes, etc. For technical interviews we’ll ask you technical questions which you should answer using a whiteboard. Don’t let this put you off. It’s a way of illustrating your answers and your thinking behind them.

“Never assume you have failed an interview, even if you haven’t solved all of the problems or feel dissatisfied with your answers. Always do your best until the very end; don’t ever give up; and always leave a good impression. If you don’t know something, just say it. Don’t worry; nobody knows everything. It’s more about how you’re willing to learn new things. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, an interview is not just a one-way street. You do most of the talking, but the interviewer is there to answer your questions as well.” —Agata, Graduate

Nerves

All of us are nervous when we attend any assessment centre/interview. Our interviewers will try to put you at ease. We are not here to catch you out; we simply want to find out more information about you. Try to remember this to calm your nerves so that we can get a true picture of who you are.

“Don’t be afraid if you’re not from Ireland or an English-speaking country. Your English doesn’t have to be perfect as long as you can communicate. There are teams in Microsoft that are very multicultural, which gives everyone invaluable experience. The more nationalities and cultures we have here, the better.” —Agata, Graduate.

Examples

Competency-based recruitment is about showing us that you posses certain skills that we deem important for our roles. It involves your experiences and how you deal with certain situations. Think of examples in advance to make it easier for you to discuss, even if you’re nervous. Examples can come from your college experience, but also from work experience, hobbies, and interests. They could include working on a project, working within a team, or dealing with difficult situations.

“For my interview, preparing real-world examples was the best help. You know you are always going to get questions on ‘Can you tell me a time you worked in a team/ had conflict/ had to work under pressure, etc’. I did work experience in my college course and my advice would be to give business examples of your experience to answer these questions, rather than constantly having to refer to college work alone.” —Diarmuid, Graduate

Time & Location

Ensure that you are on time and give yourself plenty of time to get here. Plan your journey in advance so that you know where you are going. If you arrive early, you will give yourself an opportunity to relax, take in your surroundings, and prepare yourself.

"Make sure you are on time. Leave half an hour earlier, allow for traffic and other problems that can be out of your control." —Shaun, Intern

Preparation

There is a lot of information online about Microsoft. Prepare in advance so that you find out information about the company and what we do here in Ireland. Have examples of your own experiences fresh in your mind and brush up on your general technical skills.

“Read up about what’s going on in the market with Microsoft and their competitors and then form your own opinion. It shows the interviewer that you have thought about how it would affect you if you were the person involved.” —Finbar, Graduate

Remember, if you have gotten this far, we just want to find out more information about you and give you more information about us. So relax, and we’ll take care of the rest.