How I got Microsoft SWE Internship Offer in 2nd year?

Microsoft Engage Program :

Microsoft conducts an Intern Engage Program for 2nd year students to provide a platform for engineering students to accelerate their growth and foster industry-relevant skills through mentorship, coding challenges, workshops and networking opportunities.
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What's on Stake?

Through this program , Microsoft provides problem statements on which mentees have to make a product as a solution to the problems.
On the basis of your product, they will you provide a Direct Internship Offer or Interview Round for Internship.
So, if you are in 2nd year, this is a must-apply opportunity for you.

How I got to know about this opportunity?

I got to know about this opportunity through LinkedIn. I kept an eye on some of the content creators, who cleared the engage program.
Tip : Follow Arsh Goyal Youtube Channel for more such opportunities.

How to apply ?

Eligibility Criteria

• Students graduating in 2024 enrolled in a full-time engineering program Bachelors, Masters, Integrated Dual Degree & related degrees.

• 6 CGPA and above.

Rounds For Selection

• There are three elimination rounds :
• Resume Shortlisting ( Resume is taken into consideration for proceeding to the first round.)
• Online MCQ Round ( It contains 10 MCQ questions based on DSA to be solved within 30 minutes.[Level - Easy])
• Algorithmic Round (This round consists of a single Algorithmic Puzzle which was of descriptive type. [Level - Easy to Medium])

Tips for selection

1. Make your resume strong :
   So, from POV of a second year, it would contain some experience and good projects.
   (In my case , I added my open source contribution as an experience and I was having some Blockchain projects so added them as well.)

2. Add all the achievements you have till date.
   Here, I would say, your ranks in contest , any hackathon you have won.

3. Coming to Online Test part.
   I prepared from GFG DSA MCQ questions, it had a good amount of DSA mcq's based on easy to hard level.
   Topics : Whole DSA. (Not some particular ones.)

4. Round 2 Algorithmic Part
   Here too, I prepared from GFG Algorithmic puzzles (GFG Is Love). So, you should explain your solution, how it is working and how are you coming up to the solution.

Note: They say that each round they will consider your overall profile.

Mentorship Program

• So, Congratulations, if you made it so far.
  In the mentorship program, you will be assigned a mentor, this year , I was assigned one a bit late. Don't worry if u don't get a mentor, it takes time.

• There will be different AMA sessions where you can ask your doubts and some survey quizzes.

• There will be meetings on the work culture of Microsoft and algorithms too.

• And Main Part - You will be provided three problem statements where you have to build a solution for the same as a product/application.

In my case, all the statements were based on AI/ML domain.

What I built ?

It was a really amazing one-month journey of all ups and downs, motivation-demotivation for me.
AI/ML was completely new domain for me. (Blockchain Supremacy)
So, I took Face Recognition as a problem statement.

Now, I had to build something out of the box.(Try Hard Guy) I took help of my seniors for ideas.

• So, my first week went on searching for ideas and how to implement it. Got a lot of ideas, but implementation was quite hard.
• In second week, I was completely demotivated coz of errors and other issues. I thought I can't do it.
• In third week, my senior gave me an idea, so I gave a last try.(Ye hua toh thik nhi to bhaad me jaaye.)
• The idea was to make A Video Meet App where users can enter after successful image verification. Idea was cool , so I started working on it. I used to keep each and every Tech Stack Standard (like ReactJS, MongoDB, Python, Flask, Twilio API).
• I think I can write another article regarding my project.
• So, after struggling a lot, fixing bugs and checking face images of my friends day nd night. Finally, I built it.
• I uploaded my project on my Github Repo.(Face-Meet)
• Remember to make a really nice video and the documentation. You can refer from mine. On submission day too, I couldn't complete my sleep. Next day was my college internals.(Bohot julm hai yaar)

Result Day

I was playing Valorant with my friends and got a message Engage Results are out. I left everything and sat down with my phone. A mail popped up. It said "Congratulations on the Microsoft SWE Internship Opportunity." I couldn't believed that, literally cried after that. Shouted in my corridor.

I was so happy that I couldn't sleep that night.

So, this my experience with Engage Program.
Don't feel sad, if you couldn't make it, there are many opportunities coming for you ;).

Author

• Prem Raj , 2nd year ISE student from Nitte Meenakshi Institute Of Technology. Connect to me : LinkedIN Portfolio