Interview Experience - 155 - Bloomberg | Senior Software Engineer | SDE-2
Summary
Job Role: Senior Software Engineer
Number of Rounds: 8
Offer Status: Offer
Location: London
Candidate Name: Not disclosing due to signed NDA
Interview Process
I applied online through Bloomberg’s careers page in mid-February. Within a day, a recruiter reached out to schedule an introductory call. The conversation went smoothly, and within two days, I was informed that two teams were interested in speaking with me.
A phone screen was scheduled a week later. The next day after the phone screen, the recruiter confirmed that they wanted to move forward to onsite rounds. The onsite process was split into two days — all technical rounds on the first day and behavioral rounds on the second.
They were transparent about the process: if feedback from the technical rounds wasn’t strong enough, the behavioral rounds would be canceled and the process would end there. About 30 minutes after my second technical round, I was told they wanted to proceed with the behavioral interviews the next day.
Within 48 hours of completing the behavioral rounds, I was informed they wanted to make an offer. The formal offer details came through 24 hours later.
Preparation Guide
Go through the top 50 Bloomberg-tagged questions on LeetCode and review the last six months of problems discussed in Bloomberg-related threads on LeetCode. A large number of questions are either repeated or follow a similar pattern. Having LeetCode Premium is worth it.
The recruiters at Bloomberg are very helpful and transparent about the process. Use their guidance wherever possible.
Bloomberg interviewers are highly interactive. Speak your thoughts clearly during the problem-solving process. If an interviewer provides hints, make use of them — they are evaluating whether you’d be a collaborative teammate.
Prepare a strong, specific answer for “Why Bloomberg?”. Avoid generic responses; study the company’s values and tie them into your own motivations.
Interview Rounds
Round 1: Introductory Phone Call with Recruiter
Duration: ~30 minutes
Difficulty Level: Easy
Experience:
The recruiter focused on understanding my motivations and background. I was asked why I wanted to join Bloomberg, why I was leaving my current role, and what I do in my current job. We also briefly discussed one of my projects, but no technical questions were asked in this round.
Key Learnings:
Be ready to clearly articulate your motivation for joining Bloomberg, your reasons for moving on from your current role, and an overview of your work experience.
Round 2: Phone Screen
Duration: ~45 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
I was asked one coding question, which was among the top 10 from the Bloomberg LeetCode tagged list. I explained my logic first and then wrote the code while maintaining an interactive discussion with the interviewer. After completing the code, we discussed how I’d adapt the solution for larger-scale scenarios. I was also asked to calculate time and space complexity. The code was written without running it in an IDE.
Key Learnings:
Be comfortable explaining your approach before coding, reasoning about scalability, and calculating complexities. The ability to adapt solutions to different constraints is valued.
Round 3: Onsite Technical – 1
Duration: ~60 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
The initial problem was a simple DFS on a grid-based graph — determining whether a car could travel between two points. This was followed by several extensions:
Adding obstacles to the grid and recalculating the path.
Introducing gas stations along the route, which would increase the car’s travel range, and checking if travel between points was still possible.
An additional follow-up I don’t recall in detail.
The emphasis was on keeping the initial solution extensible for these follow-ups. I wasn’t asked to code the solutions, only to walk through my approach.
Key Learnings:
Design initial solutions that can be easily extended to handle additional constraints or features without major rewrites.
Round 4: Onsite Technical – 2
Duration: ~60 minutes
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Experience:
This was a system design interview directly related to the team’s actual work. I was shown the existing architecture for one of their systems and asked how I would improve it or do things differently.
The discussion began with me asking questions to understand their setup, challenges, and goals before suggesting changes. This was not a hypothetical “design a social media app” exercise; the question was grounded in their real-world system, and they could quickly identify impractical suggestions.
Key Learnings:
For role-specific system design, start by asking clarifying questions to understand the team’s actual work. Avoid generic design patterns that don’t apply to their context.
Round 5: Behavioral with Team Lead – 1
Duration: ~45 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
The discussion focused heavily on my current role — what I do, why I want to join Bloomberg, and why I’m leaving my current job. I was asked to explain one of my projects in depth, detailing my contributions and decisions. We also discussed how my current team operates daily.
Behavioral questions followed a format similar to Amazon’s leadership principles. I ended the round by asking about the team’s projects and what my role would look like if I joined.
Key Learnings:
Be thorough in explaining your current responsibilities and projects. Strong, clear reasons for joining Bloomberg are important.
Round 6: Behavioral with Team Lead – 2
Duration: ~45 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
This was similar to the previous round with the team lead, covering my experience, motivations, and team interactions.
Key Learnings:
Maintain consistency in responses when similar questions are repeated in different rounds.
Round 7: Engineering Manager
Duration: ~45 minutes
Difficulty Level: Medium
Experience:
This was more of a discussion than a formal interview. The Engineering Manager explained their projects in detail. I asked specific questions about their current initiatives, which seemed to leave a good impression. We also discussed my current role, though not in as much depth as the team lead interviews.
Key Learnings:
Show genuine interest in the team’s work by asking thoughtful, relevant questions.
Round 8: Recruiter
Duration: ~30 minutes
Difficulty Level: Easy
Experience:
The recruiter asked familiar questions about why I wanted to join Bloomberg and why I was leaving my current role. We discussed how my interview experience had been and if there were any concerns I wanted to raise about the process. They also explained the offer timeline and next steps.
Key Learnings:
Be ready to give feedback about your interview experience and reiterate your interest in the role.
Final Thoughts
Bloomberg’s interview process is well-structured and transparent. The recruiters are proactive and communicative, which helps keep the process stress-free. A key takeaway is that Bloomberg interviewers actively want to see you succeed — they give hints, encourage discussion, and value collaborative problem-solving over silent coding.
If you prepare well using Bloomberg-specific LeetCode questions, practice explaining your reasoning out loud, and come with strong motivation for joining the company, you will be in a solid position for success.