The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Bloomberg in Jul 2011
Interview
I applied online at their website. A few days later I got an email from a recruiter asking that I take a technical assessment test online. The questions were logic type questions and you had a time limit. A few days after taking the test, I got another email for a phone interview. The phone interview was basic. They asked about previous work experience, courses I had taken, why I would be a good worker for them. During the interview, they will ask a technical question. Since I was a math major, they asked a probability question. The interviewer was really nice. He gave hints so that I could reach the answer because I was misunderstanding a part of the question.
I got another email inviting me to an in-house interview. It was in a small glass conference room at their offices. The building is very cool. It's modern looking with a lot of open space and a lot of glass rooms. There were 2 interviewers. The interview was tough since I wasn't a computer science major. They asked me to explain the code of a project I had done in a computer science class. Be ready to explain the code in detail.
Even though they take anyone with a computational major. They really are looking for people who know coding. They also want people who have experience in the financial area. They asked me why finance, why software developing. In the case of my interviewers, they also assumed I knew what branch of the financial area I would want to focus on and which R&D department I would want to work in.
I applied through university. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Bloomberg (Indianapolis, IN) in Feb 2019
Interview
They had info session at school. I submitted my resume online and got the on-campus interview. The interview is 1 hour. Two engineers are the interviewer. Small talk at the beginning. Ask 1 or 2 questions about the resume. And then ask two technical questions. I finished the first one. But I did't have enough time to completed the second question. The first one is a string question. The second one is a tree question.
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Bloomberg (London, England) in Dec 2018
Interview
It was a very candidate-friendly interview process, had flexible on-site dates. Amazingly quick feedback. Overall a great experience.
Technical phone screen with an engineer (2 simple/average coding questions)
On-site (technical and behavioral rounds)
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Simple/average coding questions. Understanding recursion, stack, and heap, some basic C++ features, data structures characteristics
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Bloomberg (New York, NY) in Nov 2016
Interview
- There was one phone interview with a Bloomberg engineer.
- The onsite interview started with a so called tour of Bloomberg but abruptly ended with a museum of their colorful terminals. It was over in 5 minutes. The group of interviewees laughed a little when it ended.
- 2 rounds of technical interviews with a break of ~20 minutes. Found it easy. Mix of algorithm and design questions. All interviewers look satisfied when they left me.
- HR and recruiter forget that I exist. Forget to contact me for the next 40 minutes or so. I go to their front desk to inquire whether there are more rounds.
- HR appears slightly irritated but is polite. Next 30 minutes, HR tries to understand why after 6+ years of computer science education and working for a couple of years I "chose" to be a software engineer. Does not want to hear technical stuff. Had a hard time believing I could fit the role. I wondered whether I should have taken Psychology and then become a recruiter so I could judge potential candidates of a different discipline.
- At the end of the interview, was asked to "patiently" wait for the next round. Within 5 minutes, one more guy turns up and says the conference room is booked. Was once again asked to goto the front desk. Bloomberg office is huge and not all elevators goto front desk. :-( Reach somehow.
- Once again try telling the front desk people that I have an interview. Give the name of the host. Host appears after 15 minutes. Asks how the interviews are going.
I say "not that great". Asks whether - "Do you want to stay?". I lower my head and say "yes".
- In the conference room, realizes that the manager is out of office and the manager does not have my resume. Arranges a video conference. Asks the manager over conference to not keep him "busy" since he has a flight in flat 2.5 hours.
- Manager tries to understand how I ended up interviewing at Bloomberg and what role she could give me if I was chosen. It was nice but nothing productive. Interview ends in 30 minutes.
- Meet the so called organizer of the whole process. Asks whether the interview was awesome. I say it was "ok". Goes on a tirade on how people like me have a low attitude and should be happy to meet awesome people. After all, the process took only a day.
- Keeps repeating "Hope you get it". "Hope you get it" with a smirk while I collect my luggage and thank her for all the arrangements.
- Leave broken hearted and look tearfully at Lexington tower while I rush to the airport.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
1. Deep copy a linked list with a random pointer.
2. Perimeter of the wall enclosed by an enemy. Eg:
121
121
If the enemy is labeled 2 in the above matrix, the wall size is 6.
3. Design a circle class and then on, utilities on top of it including randomly generating a point within a circle. How do you translate to polar coordinates and what changes I would make. What changes would be required for a Square/Rectangle/eclipse etc.