I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at PIMCO in Oct 2020
Interview
Horrible experience in a nutshell.
Applied through a referral. The recruiter reached out to me saying they are scheduling a screening interview for a position x (which was different than the one I applied to). I liked the position x better, so I didn't complain.
During the screening interview, I was asked why am I interested in this role, and I make my case for role x, only to realize that HR messed up and they are interviewing me for original position. After an awkward conversation, we move on to other "technical" questions where I am asked if I know git or if I have worked on UI, what is a future, and other questions to kill time. The interviewer was sleepy and not really interested. After 20 mins, she suggests that we take a break and I can ask her questions. So I ask her, what has her journey been at PIMCO and what kind of projects she worked on. She laughs and tells me this - "I don't know how that's relevant" but still proceeds to give a very vague answer. We kill some more time about why did I leave my previous roles, she made one more awkward joke about me not getting fired during Corona and missing out on an exit package.
Post that recruiter sends me a hackrrank test which is probably the easiest thing I have seen (1 question - 40 minutes). I solved it in 3 minutes (all 14-15 test cases passed). A few days later I get an email saying they are continuing with other applicants.
So in a nutshell, confusing, disrespectful, error-prone and disgusting recruiting process. Never applying here again.
Also, this is a classic role-fishing by giving a Quant Dev title but a pure software developer role.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What is a futures contract?
Have you worked with UI before?