2013 Financial Software Engineer Interview Experience
Process
Attended the phone interview. It was about 50 minutes long.
It started with questions from my resume. Then, there were questions discussed earlier on Glassdoor, such as using a hash table and a question on tries.
He also asked questions on:
- Unix commands
- OOPS concepts and how I have used them personally
Finally, there was a question on implementing the square root function: what its signature would be, then the implementation.
I initially gave an O(n) solution and mentioned it could be optimized with a divide and conquer method, providing another alternative. He then asked about test cases, to which I also provided an answer.
He said, "Pretty good," and that was it.
I believed I would get a call for the next round, as the entire interview was smooth, and he seemed happy with my answers. But, guess what? I got a rejection! I couldn't feel worse at that moment.
They stated they couldn't provide reasons for my non-selection and asked me to apply next year. Their loss, I say.
Questions
Nothing difficult. UNIX command for listing all files containing a certain string. Square-root function. How an abstract method and an interface differ, and how I have used them personally, etc.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 2 interview experiences for the Bloomberg LP 2013 Financial Software Engineer role in United States.
Success Rate
Bloomberg LP's interview process for their 2013 Financial Software Engineer roles in the United States is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having mixed feelings for Bloomberg LP's 2013 Financial Software Engineer interview process in United States.
Bloomberg LP Work Experiences
- 1.0inhumane degradation, with mojitosFinancial Software Engineer • Current EmployeeNew York, New York, United StatesJuly 10, 2010Pros: Pays well, stable, lots of potential -- in some alternate universe.Cons: 90-hour weeks, stifling bureaucracy, backstabbing politics, personal degradation, self-destructive technology choices. Think of it as being chained in a salt mine with open sores. Living in New York is a special kind of hell, too.
- 4.0Good job with interesting problemsSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeFebruary 13, 2019Pros: a lot of interesting problems to work on a lot of smart people NYC is greatCons: There are a lot of engineers, so it can be difficult to differentiate yourself.
- 4.0It's a big company; there's a lot of room for good teams and bad teamsSenior Software Developer • Current EmployeeNew York, New York, United StatesDecember 18, 2012Pros: It's very bright and sunny, which might seem trivial, but I personally find it very good for my mood to work in a bright office. I like the financial aspects of the work, so once I found the team working on precisely what I was interested in, I became quite happy and satisfied. Don't worry too much about the "free food"; most of it is junk food, though the fruit is great. If you like finance more than cutting-edge software engineering, you'll find it a pleasant enough place to work at (on the good teams). The bad teams, well, they are out there; do your homework before accepting the offer.Cons: Some of the infrastructure is legacy. This shouldn't be a con for any seasoned developer; it's a fact of life. However, if you're a whiny b**** straight out of college, you might find this distasteful. There is some politicking, and people get promoted partially based on their temperament and how well they get along with other managers. Again, this shouldn't be a con, but if you are young and naive, you might find this also to be distasteful. The only really big con is the annual review process, which is a curve-fitted algorithm to award future compensation based on relative (within your peer group) performance. I would advise newcomers to negotiate as hard as you can before signing, because once you are in, there's a good possibility your compensation will stagnate.
Bloomberg LP Interview Questions
