Financial Applications Developer Interview Experience
Process
Met with a recruiter at a campus career fair, and we chatted about my background (getting a Ph.D. in a non-CS field).
They asked why I would want to work at Bloomberg and why as a software developer. This question comes up often (and for good reason), so know your answer well.
I was asked to interview the very next day on campus.
Two rounds of on-campus interviews followed, both in a 45-minute, two-to-one format with software developers. Given my background, the questions were mostly high-level data structures, algorithms, and logic. However, I was asked to write code or pseudocode in every round.
The last round was with HR and a senior manager. HR focused mostly on behavioral questions. The manager started with behavioral/background questions but spent most of the time asking a rather difficult, open-ended question.
Questions
Given a string of characters (e.g., Scrabble tiles) and a dictionary of allowed words, how would you use those tiles (without replacement between words) to construct the 10 longest allowed words?
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 22 interview experiences for the Bloomberg LP Financial Applications Developer role in United States.
Success Rate
Bloomberg LP's interview process for their Financial Applications Developer roles in the United States is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Bloomberg LP's Financial Applications Developer interview process in United States.
Bloomberg LP Work Experiences
- 3.0It's a gig, not a careerFinancial Applications Developer • Former EmployeeNew York, New York, United StatesSeptember 27, 2014Pros: Pantry, seeing and meeting people due to the special "design" of the work environment, sunlight in the buildings, good work-life balance. Good opportunities to make an impact with your work and get to know many people, but don't expect your good work and sweat to get you a promotion or anywhere meaningful.Cons: Certainly not a place to have a career. Flat organizational structure has its pros and cons. Culture can be very petty. They promote "lifers" to managerial positions, some of whom are seriously not employable elsewhere. Great place to work right out of college, but not after 30. Pay is not very competitive, but they will pay more to someone else to do the same job when hiring from outside. Once you're in the company, you virtually have no place for negotiating salary unless you have an offer from somewhere else. Once you resign, you need to vacate the premises immediately after HR interview, which appears to be about checking boxes and more employee surveys.
- 4.0Smart people paid ridiculous salaries to slog through ancient systemsFinancial Applications Developer • Former EmployeeNew York, New York, United StatesOctober 15, 2008Pros: High pay, free food, beautiful building, great location, and smart people.Cons: Ancient architecture, no coding standards, no commenting of code, no documentation. Poorly designed and documented, buggy, incomplete GUI framework which you are forced to use. Weird UI standards, little inter-group code sharing, poor common tools.
- 4.0A good place to workFinancial Applications Developer • Current EmployeeDecember 22, 2011Pros: Good location, good healthcare plans, big company. Food bar is good. Work-life balance is sort of good for most of the time.Cons: Could be stressful while catching a deadline, yet the work is not that challenging. Career path is kinda limited. Skills used in work are too specific.
Bloomberg LP Interview Questions
