Financial Software Developer Interview Experience
December 1, 2013
Positive ExperienceGot Offer
Process
Applied Online...
Phone Interview: Not difficult.
- Question 1: Why make data members private and access them using getter and setter methods when you can access them directly by making them public?
- Question 2: Given stock prices of n days. Find when to buy and when to sell stock in order to gain maximum profit.
- Question 3: Given an array of size greater than 'x' and a range 0 to x. Find duplicate elements in the array. Hint: You can destroy the array, but the solution should use O(1) space and O(n) time, where n is the size of the array.
On-Site Interview:
Interview 1: Interview with 2 software developers. Started with some questions related to my projects.
- Q1: Diamond Inheritance Problem in C++. Use of the virtual keyword. And how are things handled internally? Basically checked my understanding of vtable.
- Q2: Can you use the virtual keyword with destructors?
- Q3: Given heads of two linked lists. Find if the two linked lists intersect. Solution should not use extra memory.
- Q4: Reverse linked list. Tested concepts of double pointers, pass-by-value, and pass-by-reference.
Interview 2: Interview with 2 software developers.
- Q1: In what case would you use a BST over a hash table?
- Q2: Insertion in BST.
- Q3: Find the 'k'th smallest element in BST. What extra information would you require here?
- Q4: Given a string with many spaces between words. Remove these extra spaces in the string. eg: " I love New York " --> "I love New York".
- Q4 (rephrased): You get an input in the form [2 lowercase characters, A number]. eg [aa, 10], [bd, 12]. Given a two-letter input, find the last 10 numbers associated with the string. Design a data structure to implement this without using STL. Basically, I was asked to design a hash function.
Interview 3: Interview with a project manager.
- Q1: Find the first distinct element in an array.
- Q2: C++ does not have a byte data type. How would you create this data type?
- Q3: Let's say I have a code currently executing on my machine. I overwrite the code with a newer version, but the older version is still executing. Why do you think this is happening?
Interview 4: Interview with HR.
- General HR Interview.
Questions
Given the heads of two linked lists, find if the two linked lists intersect.
Solution should not use extra memory.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 219 interview experiences for the Bloomberg LP Financial Software Developer role in United States.
Success Rate
25%
Pass Rate
Bloomberg LP's interview process for their Financial Software Developer roles in the United States is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Positive46%
Neutral39%
Negative15%
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Bloomberg LP's Financial Software Developer interview process in United States.
Bloomberg LP Work Experiences
2.0
Good starting package and a guaranteed bonus, but it ends there..
Financial Software Developer • Current Employee
September 19, 2009
Pros: Snacks, good time off, no fixed ill days, a good training program, no formal wear required like some other companies, and the inception of new technology.
Cons: Bad management. They don't even give you your own cubicle. Overhyped company, which tries to be glamorous on the outside but is void inside. Old software, overworked people, low wage hikes, hostile to immigrants, biased performance reviews. Overall, a closed system where people either cover their assets or bully people around to get ahead.
Some teams are innovative; however, most are doing what they were doing for a long, long time. Overall, unreasonable people.
4.0
Fantastic internship program with lots to learn and do
Financial Software Developer • Former Employee
New York, New York, United States
August 5, 2015
Pros: Great intern events throughout the summer, at least one per week. There is always something to do.
You're given your own project to work on and complete throughout the summer. When you're done, you get ample opportunities to show off what you've accomplished to upper management.
Everyone is willing to help or chat with you about their role or the company.
Lots of financial knowledge to gain, with provided classes in finance and tech.
Cons: The work isn't always super challenging or structured, which makes it hard to focus and be productive sometimes.
The tech can be a bit restrictive since it's almost all proprietary, but the people who literally built it are around and willing to help you leverage it the best you can.
Not a fan of the open floor plan.
2.0
C++ and JavaScript coding on your favorite amber and black color-schemed terminal
Financial Software Developer • Current Employee
London, England, United Kingdom
October 3, 2012
Pros: The FSD training class will teach you what you need to know about Bloomberg's proprietary technologies. It's a good opportunity for somebody straight out of uni who knows C++ to a reasonable but not expert level. For those with a few years of experience, getting the same pay and going through the same class is less appealing. Bloomberg's RAPID environment and BAS framework are easy to use and quick to develop new features on. Bloomberg work you hard, but the satisfaction you get from getting a lot of work done can be addictive. Free snacks and drinks in the pantry is also a plus. Lavish summer parties. Nice new "lunch room".
Cons: Bloomberg is focused on being first to market with new features, which means pressure and deadlines and a big tradeoff against writing good quality code. Business guys can be aggressive and look through you, and not enough time is given to planning or design.
Compiling and linking against all of Bloomberg's dependent libraries takes ages and sometimes fails. The architecture is somewhat dated due to this, plus the presence of legacy Fortran code. Outages affecting development occur too frequently.
You can befriend training colleagues, but most people keep themselves to themselves. The initial training class requires a lot of work and staying late, and has an 80% pass mark.
Working hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. or 9 p.m. to 7 p.m.
- 2.0Good starting package and a guaranteed bonus, but it ends there..Financial Software Developer • Current EmployeeSeptember 19, 2009Pros: Snacks, good time off, no fixed ill days, a good training program, no formal wear required like some other companies, and the inception of new technology.Cons: Bad management. They don't even give you your own cubicle. Overhyped company, which tries to be glamorous on the outside but is void inside. Old software, overworked people, low wage hikes, hostile to immigrants, biased performance reviews. Overall, a closed system where people either cover their assets or bully people around to get ahead. Some teams are innovative; however, most are doing what they were doing for a long, long time. Overall, unreasonable people.
- 4.0Fantastic internship program with lots to learn and doFinancial Software Developer • Former EmployeeNew York, New York, United StatesAugust 5, 2015Pros: Great intern events throughout the summer, at least one per week. There is always something to do. You're given your own project to work on and complete throughout the summer. When you're done, you get ample opportunities to show off what you've accomplished to upper management. Everyone is willing to help or chat with you about their role or the company. Lots of financial knowledge to gain, with provided classes in finance and tech.Cons: The work isn't always super challenging or structured, which makes it hard to focus and be productive sometimes. The tech can be a bit restrictive since it's almost all proprietary, but the people who literally built it are around and willing to help you leverage it the best you can. Not a fan of the open floor plan.
- 2.0C++ and JavaScript coding on your favorite amber and black color-schemed terminalFinancial Software Developer • Current EmployeeLondon, England, United KingdomOctober 3, 2012Pros: The FSD training class will teach you what you need to know about Bloomberg's proprietary technologies. It's a good opportunity for somebody straight out of uni who knows C++ to a reasonable but not expert level. For those with a few years of experience, getting the same pay and going through the same class is less appealing. Bloomberg's RAPID environment and BAS framework are easy to use and quick to develop new features on. Bloomberg work you hard, but the satisfaction you get from getting a lot of work done can be addictive. Free snacks and drinks in the pantry is also a plus. Lavish summer parties. Nice new "lunch room".Cons: Bloomberg is focused on being first to market with new features, which means pressure and deadlines and a big tradeoff against writing good quality code. Business guys can be aggressive and look through you, and not enough time is given to planning or design. Compiling and linking against all of Bloomberg's dependent libraries takes ages and sometimes fails. The architecture is somewhat dated due to this, plus the presence of legacy Fortran code. Outages affecting development occur too frequently. You can befriend training colleagues, but most people keep themselves to themselves. The initial training class requires a lot of work and staying late, and has an 80% pass mark. Working hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. or 9 p.m. to 7 p.m.
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