Rashi Pillania
Electrical - Power and Automation
PPO
Microsoft
Interviewed by:
Aditya Vimal
Internships
PPOs
20th September 2020
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Why PPO?
Any tips for securing a PPO?
Summary of the specifics
Importance of good relations within the company?
Criteria used while handing out PPOs?
How did you stand out among your colleagues?
Policies regarding PPOs?
I was initially a bit confused about whether I should accept the offer or sit for placements. After talking to a senior who had interned at Microsoft itself I decided to accept the PPO. One major reason was the uncertainty pertaining to COVID and its effects on the placement season. Secondly, Microsoft is a good company in the tech domain and I decided that if I change my mind to try some different profiles, I would try it off campus instead of going through the placement season stress. Also, Microsoft allowed interviews for campuses abroad like Norway and Redmond only if we have accepted the PPO.
Understand the project given to you properly. While working on it, study and learn as much as possible about the technologies you need for the project. Don’t shy away from approaching your manager and mentor to clear your doubts and to discuss different things related to your project or the company and internship in general. Understand the company culture well and what they expect from you as a team member. For interview rounds, in addition to these, be prepared for some DSA based questions. Effort matters, and if they see that effort from your side you are on the right track.
On the basis of our work, the manager recommends us for interviews. The first interview is a technical round with one/two questions of DSA as well as questions related to your internship project and technologies. Based on this round you can directly get an interview call for an HR round or another technical round. In the HR round, they mainly see our future plans, interests, and are we a good fit for the company.
A good relationship with your seniors will help you get good guidance related to the internship and its different aspects like interviews, technologies, presentations, etc. But the decision relies on your work and interviews entirely.
The criteria might differ from company to company. Particularly for Microsoft, they majorly look at the feedback given by our Manager which is based on how well we have performed the project that was assigned to us. They also took 1 or 2 technical interview rounds which tested our DSA knowledge and the knowledge of the technologies we worked on during the internship. Additionally. they also look at things like how good a team player we are and are we a good fit for the company i.e does our working style match with the company culture.
I was lucky to get a project which was in its initial stage of development, so a lot of innovation could be done in its design. They liked the final results and eventually, the code reached the production stage. Also, being from a non-cs background they were happy to see my steep learning curve which I feel was a great plus because it aligns with Microsoft’s culture of having a learners mindset.
In general, this doesn’t happen. They choose on the basis of the quality of work of individuals. So, the number of PPOs offered keeps varying.
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