# Twelve Marbles, One Phone Round, and a Month-Later Rejection From Microsoft

**[TRUE STORY]** — by Developer · Microsoft internship candidate · via author’s blog

A developer’s first-person account of failing a Microsoft internship interview turns on a single phone round and a 12-marbles brain teaser: he admitted he already knew the riddle and asked for another, and the unfamiliar one stumped him under pressure. About a month later, the rejection email arrived. The essay drew 151 points and 312 comments on Hacker News, most of them their own versions of the same story.

*Source: [ochagavia.nl · Hacker News · 151 pts, 312 comments](https://ochagavia.nl/blog/that-time-when-i-failed-the-microsoft-interview/)*
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