I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Bloomberg (New York, NY) in Jul 2020
Interview
The first round was a technical phone screen in a shared coding environment on hacker rank. It involved two leetcode easy problems: determine if two BSTs are equal and calculate how much tax a person would need to pay for the year. It went well and I got along with the interviewer so I was scheduled for a virtual onsite which I was told could take up to half the day if I do well on the technical portion.
Before the interview I had a call with the recruiter where he gave me a very high level break down of what to expect and some tips. Bloomberg likes to keep things flexible so they can move interviewers around if needed so he couldn't give me any detailed information like what I would be tested on or who would be interviewing me. This ended up working against me because from other glassdoor reviews for this role (as well as other technical interviews in general), it seemed I would be getting leetcode style algorithm questions in the technical portion and potentially a system design question in the non-technical portion. So I focused the majority of my time practicing algorithms and brushing up a bit on system design only to be given two questions which were a hybrid of design and coding. I was unprepared but I worked through the first round. Then in the second, my nerves got the best of me and I froze up on a trivial detail. After I got through it, one of the two interviewers cut the interview short and I got the impression he felt this was a waste of his time.
From my conversation with the recruiter I knew if I didn't do well in the technical portion the day would get cut short so I was glad to meet another engineer in the third round but it quickly became clear he was just talking to me as a courtesy as he didn't present a problem and simply asked if I had questions about Bloomberg. To be fair, asking him questions and hearing about his experience at the company was useful and made me interested in the company but he was also candid about the downsides which I appreciated. After two business days I received the rejection email and I haven't heard from the main recruiter I had been in contact with since.
Design and implement a way to split payments across a collection of bonds which had balances. The split is determined by payment rules such as prorata or sequential and rules could be nested in one another.
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Bloomberg
Interview
I was approached by recruiter for the position. I have been thinking to switch jobs, so decided to give it a shot. Definitely one should revise data structures, algorithms and their runtimes and traditional problems like knapsack producer consumers etc. Phone screen was easy leetcode style question. I was able to solve and write code for the first problem. For second problem we were short on time, hence I explained the approach with pseudo code. Interviewer was satisfied.
Afterward virtual onsite was scheduled for whole day. I logged in in the morning, recruiter explained process and what to expect. First hour was with two engineers. After initial introduction, I was asked to solve the problem. I suggested two solutions which we discussed. I explained runtime for both approaches. I did mix up runtimes but corrected while explaining the solution. Second interview was also with two engineers. Within few mins I had this feeling that one of the interviewer is going to be challenging. For any clarification questions he kept saying basic trivial design or I don’t care. But in the end he wasn’t satisfied with the solution. You know not all interviewer wants you to succeed. Some of them are really trying to pull you down. Second interviewer also asked another problem to solve. I suggested two solutions, explained whole thing including runtime. I implemented most of it. He kept adding complexity to the question and I was giving solutions. After 2 hours we took a break of 15 mins. After 15 mins I was told it’s done for the day. Recruiter will contact me further. I knew this is the end.
Pros: I was interviewing for any position after looong. So yes I am rusty with academics, but I was good with problem solving. I know where to focus.
Cons: Interviewer should be explicit about problem being represented. Conveying solve it in simple terms sends mixed signal. Recruiter could have been more professional to give follow up call/email to tell me that I don’t meet their criteria.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Remove element from linked list with matching value?
Pick k elements from list which sums to a number provided?
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Bloomberg in Jun 2020
Interview
I applied online on May 7th. I heard back the next day that they wanted to do a phone screen with HR. I setup that call and all went well. This was when I first noticed that the recruiter (maybe just HR person) was rude and cold. They were not like the other recruiters I've worked with in my job search process. I didn't think much of it at the time. From there I did the tech phone screen on June 3rd. I heard back on June 7th that'd I'd be moving on to the virtual onsite. I scheduled my onsite for June 17th. They were very vague about the onsite and said I could schedule a call with the person I first talked to (hr/recruiter?) to learn more. I setup the call for June 11th. They never called... this should have really been a red flag for me but I still continued... When I logged into the virtual onsite I was greeted by 2 disinterested engineers that immediately just started talking without even greeting me. Throughout the interview they just seemed disinterested in what I had to say and many times they were silent after I was done speaking. The next interview was better but one of the engineers had a bad internet connection and so I barely could understand them. At the end of that interview they said I could take a 20 minute break and that someone would join the call after that. So I take a quick break and get on the call again. I wait 5 minutes, no one showed, 15 minutes, still no one... I wait 30 minutes and still no one joined the call. I emailed the only contact I had and luckily they got back and said "Oh I'm sorry (the recruiter/hr) person was supposed to join the call but got pulled into a meeting last minute. I think you already talked to her today though so you're done for the day". I had in fact NOT talked to her yet AND she failed to show up AGAIN. So unprofessional and completely rude. I was really thinking I'd like Bloomberg as a place to work but after this experience I will never apply again. This was such an awful experience as a candidate and I think they should really look into the HR/recruiter person I was working with. I heard back 2 days after the onsite that I was rejected.