Applied online. After ~3 weeks received request for phone screen. Phone screen lasted ~1hr and was all trivia on C language, with questions on keywords, and analyzing a few lines of code. Interviewer did not show any emotion or give any indications of whether or not they were satisfied with a given answer. Asked some Unix questions and trivia on threads, parallel processing. Ended with some open ended questions on data structures, like 'are you familiar with any data structures?' I mentioned linear structures (array, LL, etc), hash tables, and trees to give a couple examples. Asked questions like 'what is notable about XX data structure,' 'what is important when hashing keys', 'how are trees balanced.' I had a lot of questions and the interviewer said 'I can give you about 2 minutes.' He sounded like a robot, so I asked if he enjoyed the job and he said it's fast paced and you will roll out features often.
Interview questions [3]
Question 1
Is this valid/what would this do (C):
int *p;
p=0;
p++;
printf("%d",p);
What's the 'static' keyword in C used for? UNIX: what's a file descriptor, what command do you use to see system operations? What's a thread/deadlock/race condition/etc?
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1+ week. I interviewed at Bloomberg (New York, NY)
Interview
The first step was a phone interview with a pair of developers. Without any background or introduction, the interview proceeded for ~40 minute on technical questions on C++/Linux.
The second round was onsite with 4 different sessions: 2 technical, 1 HR, and 1 the senior manager. The technical interviews were with a pair of developers/team leads and some code was expected to be written on a provided pad of paper.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The C++ questions where straight forward covering design patterns, data structures, and algorithms, include big-O notation for various data structure procedures and performance of sorting techniques. Writing code on a paper is not traditionally how code is authored so you might want to practice, especially as the paper is collected afterwards.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 days. I interviewed at Bloomberg
Interview
Phone screen followed by onsite interview with couple of FOB types. Asked all kinds of minutia about C and C++. Interviewers were very rude. I had more experience then them in various areas so they seemed to be trying to take me down a peg. Didn't get any time to ask about the role.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Dig up the C++ faq and memorize. That's the only way to please these types. Even then look to be disqualified if the think you might potentially get into a lead position.