I applied online for the Financial Software Developer position. The job description stated that the interview process would involve a technical test and an in-house interview.

The following week, I received an email inviting me to complete an online skill assessment on a website called Select2Perform, which is similar to Brainbench. My test was in Java, as I had listed it as my most proficient language in my online application. I scored 3.89 out of 5, placing me in the 'Advanced' proficiency level (3.51-4.50). My percentile was 94% among the global population and 91% among the company population.

After three and a half weeks, I received a phone call to schedule an on-site interview. The interview consisted of three sessions.

The first two sessions were primarily technical, incorporating some behavioral questions, such as "Why do you want to work for Bloomberg?" In the first session, I was asked about my previous projects, some conceptual questions, and data structures. I was then asked to write some code, with the option of using either an iterative or recursive approach. I chose to use a loop, and they inquired about my reasoning and the potential problems associated with a recursive solution. The session concluded with some logic questions, which were not overly difficult.

In the second interview with a couple of senior R&D professionals, after some general questions, I was asked to write more code. They first asked for my proposed solution, then identified conditions where it might fail, requiring me to modify it. Once they were satisfied with the approach, I wrote the code. They then asked how I could ensure the code's correctness, noting that perfect syntax was not required and pseudocode was acceptable.

The final session was with HR. This involved typical behavioral questions and was a positive experience. I asked questions about the role, the company, and the recruiting process. She mentioned that decisions are typically made quite quickly, usually within about three days, and that candidates might have another phone interview if there was uncertainty.

The next day, they called to make an offer, which I accepted.

Write a function that returns the first unique element in an array.