Bloomberg Interview Process for Software Engineers

The Bloomberg interview process for software engineers essentially aims to evaluate your problem-solving and analytical skills. The company hires software engineers throughout the year, giving them the opportunity to work on challenging and high-impact technology projects.

Bloomberg is a billion-dollar financial, media, data, and software company that offers software engineers and developers some of the highest salaries. The company offers enterprise applications and financial software tools to large financial and investment corporations. 

Although vacancies exist throughout the year, cracking the interview isn’t easy. The Bloomberg interview process comprises multiple rounds and fundamentally tests candidates on two main aspects -- core data structures (and algorithms) and systems design.  

Getting past the Bloomberg interview process by acing multiple coding and systems design rounds requires a solid and foolproof strategy. It requires diligent effort dedicated toward solving several problems in core data structures and algorithms. By understanding what areas to focus on and adopting a strategy that covers all the necessary elements from the interview perspective, you can most certainly position yourself to ace the Bloomberg interview.

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Here’s what this article will cover:

• The Bloomberg interview process for software engineers
• Tips to ace the Bloomberg interview
• FAQs on the Bloomberg interview process for software engineers 

Bloomberg Software Engineer Interview Process

The Bloomberg software engineer interview process typically consists of three to four main rounds. The number or the general order of the rounds can vary depending on the specific position or the seniority of the role you’re applying for.

Let’s look at the main rounds in the Bloomberg interview process. 

1. The Initial Recruiter Screen 

This round typically involves interacting with a recruiter from human resources. The recruiter mostly tries to understand your qualifications, skills, and other aspects of your profile to gauge if you’re the right candidate for the role. Questions asked in this round are mostly very general and directly pertain to your past experience, professional skills, and some general behavioral interview questions. 

Below are the type of questions you can expect at the initial recruiter screen interview round:

• How many total years of experience do you have?
• Why do you want to work at Bloomberg?
• What are your core technical skills?
• Why are you looking to change your current job?
• What is your expected compensation?
• What skills do you think will help you succeed in this current role?

2. The Technical Phone Screen

The technical phone screen interview is a remote interview conducted by a hiring manager or a technical lead. There can be one or two technical phone screen rounds depending on the position you’re applying for. Senior developers and engineering managers can have two technical phone screen rounds. The technical phone screen essentially involves solving problems on algorithms and core data structures. The round lasts about 30 minutes and is usually conducted via a shared doc or a remote interviewing tool. 

For the problems you’re given, you’ll first be asked to brute-force the solution, after which you’re asked to write error-free code. Your ability to clearly articulate the problem solution is what will enable you to ace the technical phone screen round. 

As mentioned earlier, the technical phone screen round involves solving coding questions in core data structures and algorithms. 

Below are some important topics to prepare for the technical phone screen round in the Bloomberg interview process:

• Arrays, strings, and linked lists
• Sorting algorithms — quicksort, merge sort, heap sort, etc.
• Hash tables and queues
• Recursion
• Trees and graphs
• Graph algorithms, including greedy algorithms
• Dynamic programming

Let’s look at some sample Bloomberg interview questions in coding for the technical phone screen round:

1. Write a program to compute the largest element in a given 3 DImensional array.
2. Write a code to print the left view of a given Binary Tree T. 
3. Write a code to find the missing element in a 2 Dimensional integer array.
4. Write a program to find out if a given string is a palindrome or not. 
5. Write a code to find out if a given Binary Tree is a Binary Search Tree or not. 

Recommended reading: How to Prepare for and Crack Phone Screen Interviews at FAANG.

To access more coding problems to prepare for your Bloomberg Technical Phone Screen interview, visit our Problems Page 

3. The On-site Interview

The on-site interview is the real test of your coding and systems design abilities. The Bloomberg on-site interview can have anywhere between three to five rounds covering coding, systems design, and behavioral psychology. 

Let’s look at each of these rounds in detail.

3.1 The Coding Round

The Bloomberg on-site coding round is very similar to the technical phone screen interview. You’re asked to solve one or two problems on trees/graphs/dynamic programming/graph algorithms. Your problem-solving and coding abilities are extensively evaluated in this round. 

The main difference between the on-site coding round and the technical screen is that you could be asked to code on a whiteboard during the on-site. Coding on a whiteboard can be challenging as your thought process and approach are out in the open for recruiters to assess. To avoid getting stuck while going about problem-solving, practice coding on a whiteboard for two to three weeks.  

3.2 The Design Round

The Bloomberg interview process typically has 1 or 2 systems design rounds that take place during the on-site interview as well. In this round, your understanding of scalable systems and related concepts in distributed systems are evaluated by one or two hiring managers (usually managers of the team you’d potentially be joining if you get past the on-site). 

The important concepts to prepare for the Bloomberg systems design interview include: 

• Concurrency
• API modeling
• SQL and databases
• Network systems
• Sharding techniques
• Caching and loading
• Case studies

Below are some systems design questions to expect at the Bloomberg interview:

1. What aspects would you consider while building a scalable software tool?
2. How would you make sure your e-commerce system has low latency?
3. What security aspects will you consider while setting up a database for financial entries?
4. How would you build a chatbot service?
5. Explain the design aspects to consider while building a scalable mobile application.

3.3 The Behavioral Round

Behavioral and leadership rounds test your ability to handle different workplace situations, how you manage work and life, challenging past projects, and professional challenges. 

Also known as the HR round, the Bloomberg behavioral interview is usually conducted by a hiring panel comprising 3 to 4 members. Below are some sample interview questions to practice for the Bloomberg behavioral interview:

1. Tell us what you learned from the most challenging project you worked on.
2. Why do you think Blomberg will help you advance in your career?
3. How do you manage stressful situations at work?
4. Tell us about a time when you disagreed with a superior.
5. Tell us about a time when you had to make a big decision, but it wasn’t the right decision to make.

Note that behavioral interviews are more important for senior and managerial positions at Bloomberg. 

To check out more practice behavioral interview questions, visit our page on Behavioral Interview Questions for Software Engineers and Developers.

Tips to Crack the Bloomberg Interview

To ace the Bloomberg interview, adopting a good strategy is key. There are various elements to a good strategy. That’s exactly what we’ll discuss here. 

Below are some noteworthy tips to adopt in your prep strategy.

• Start early. Technical interviews have a lot of topics to cover, so make sure you start at least 10 weeks before to give yourself the best chance. 
• Identify patterns when you solve problems and classify problems that have similar solution patterns. That way, you can use analogous patterns to solve new problems.
• Solve at least 1 to 2 problems in core data structures and algorithms every day. 
• Spend at least 2 weeks prepping systems design topics.
• Spend at least a week practicing answers to behavioral questions.
• Understand how remote interviewing tools work, as you might have to go through 2 or 3 remote coding interviews. 
• Practice mock interviews with experts who can help you gain an edge. 
• Create a good project portfolio to set yourself apart from the competition. 

FAQs on the Bloomberg Interview Process

1. How many remote rounds does the Bloomberg interview process for software engineers have?
   The Bloomberg interview process for software engineers usually has one or two remote interviews. These interviews are fundamentally coding interviews, but you can also expect a few design and behavioral interview questions.

2. What is the average software engineer salary at Bloomberg?
   The average software engineer salary at Bloomberg is $159,518, making it one of the highest-paying companies for software engineers. 

3. How many rounds does the Bloomberg on-site interview have?
   The Bloomberg on-site typically consists of 3 to 5 interview rounds. These include coding rounds, design rounds, and leadership interviews. 

4. What are the important systems design topics to prepare for the Bloomberg on-site interview?
   The important systems design topics to prepare include – network protocols, databases and servers, file systems, online processing systems, sharding techniques, concurrency, API modeling, and caching.

5. What type of behavioral interview questions can you expect at the Bloomberg behavioral and leadership interview?
   Questions at Bloomberg’s behavioral interview are generally around – past projects, workplace ethics, stressful workplace situations, professional challenges, and work-life balance. 

Get Ready for Your Next Technical Interview

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