The process started with an email from the recruiter, followed by a recorded Kata video interview conducted by a third-party interviewer.

The coding questions themselves were relatively straightforward. However, the interview format was frustrating and did not seem designed to accurately assess coding ability. Before writing any code, I was required to explain my implementation approach. The interviewer repeatedly challenged and questioned the proposed solution, often steering the discussion toward alternative directions that felt confusing rather than constructive.

As a result, approximately 10-15 minutes of a 25-minute interview were spent discussing the approach, leaving only about 10 minutes for coding. This was not enough time to properly implement, test, and run the solution. The constant interruptions made it difficult to make meaningful progress and created an environment that felt more focused on catching mistakes than evaluating problem-solving skills.

Overall, the experience felt poorly structured and did not provide a fair opportunity to demonstrate coding ability.

Don't waste your time interviewing at Citi.

First 10 minute - Java related questions

40 minute : 1 find bug and fix and second writing two methods