I applied through other source. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Barclays (New York, NY) in Nov 2009
Interview
I am still waiting on their offer; however, I was notified that I was a finalist candidate and therefore I believe to have a good chance.
My first round interview was with a director at the technology group. It was quite long (almost one hour) and the guy asked me a lot of technical questions, mostly about server infrastructure and high-level systems related issues.
My second interview was only about 5 minutes. He just went through my resume, asked me some q's and told me "I liked what I saw". A week later I got an email from HR telling me I was in the final selection process.
Overall, technical knowledge is necessary and they seem to be very flexible given that it is a new company.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
I was asked about how to avoid data corruption in relational databases. (very broadly, not specifics)
The interview felt less like an assessment of Java engineering ability and more like a pub quiz for obscure syntax trivia. Instead of exploring problem-solving, design decisions, debugging skills, or real-world development experience, the focus seemed to be on recalling exact language details that most professional developers would simply look up in seconds.
It's a curious hiring strategy: rejecting people who know how to build software because they can't instantly recite syntax that modern IDEs autocomplete for them anyway
Overall, the process felt outdated, disconnected from how software is actually written, and more reflective of academic memorisation than professional engineering competence.
Initial CGPA based screening.
Three rounds in total post that.
First eliminatory round consisted of DSA and sql round for screening.
Difficulty Leet Code Medium.Strings question.
Pen paper DSA in person. Leet Code Easy. A sorting variant.
HR or behavioural round.
Final verdict: Selected
I arrived at the Barclays Munich office on Leopoldstraße. A friendly recruiter named Katharina welcomed me. We discussed Java microservices, Kubernetes deployments, and team culture. The atmosphere felt professional yet relaxed. Overall, a positive experience.
