Barclays Internship Interview Experience

Total of over 250+ students registered for this round, but only 133 were eligible for the Online Assessment (OA).

Criteria for selection: A minimum of 7 CGPA with no backlogs and more than 75% in Class 12th.

Round 1: Online Assessment

Duration: 90 minutes

The first round was an Online Assessment. Candidates were asked to solve one DSA question (similar to this: String Generation OA Question) and 12 multiple-choice questions (MCQs).

• DSA Question: 50 marks.
• MCQs: Out of the 12 questions, 8 were Java OOPs and print-the-output type questions. The remaining 4 were DBMS-based, including 1 SQL query.
• SQL Query: It involved basic GROUP BY and ORDER BY, where grouping was based on months. Make sure to practice SQL queries involving dates and months.

Questions carried 2, 4, or 6 marks each. I believe all of my MCQs were correct, and I passed 3 test cases for the DSA question. I wasn’t expecting to get selected for the next round.

Round 2: Technical Round

Out of 133 students, only 40 qualified for this round.

Before the interview rounds, a Pre-Placement Talk was conducted. My interview was the last one in my panel, starting around 11:00 AM. The interview began with the classic question: “Tell me about yourself.” (Make sure to prepare for this question thoroughly as it forms your first impression.)

Then, the interviewer asked me to draw the landing page of the website I had mentioned in my resume. He also asked me to explain the project in detail, including how pattern matching was done, which APIs were used, and to draw the high-level schema. The project also included a chatbot, so he asked me to write the logic for showing and hiding the chatbot (I implemented this using the useState() hook in React and the CSS display property).

Next, I was asked to write code in C++ to input an array of size n, sort it, and print the output in descending order. I used the prebuilt sort() function and explained the parameters, iterators, and their types. He extended the question by introducing a Student class with an instance variable name and asked me to sort the array of students in ascending order. I used the sort function with a custom comparator, but I wasn’t sure whether > would work with strings, so I suggested an alternative using the strcmp function.

He then asked me about the difference between SQL and NoSQL, followed by questions about SQL joins (inner and outer joins), foreign keys, cascading in SQL, and its syntax. The round ended after about 45 minutes. He also asked if I had any questions for him (make sure you prepare a question to ask at the end).

Round 3: Technical + HR Round

Out of 40 students, only 27 made it to this round.

Again, the interviewer asked me to introduce myself and explain my project, particularly if I faced any difficulties while building it. Then, he asked me how I divided the workload within a team (this took over 15 minutes with a lot of follow-up questions). Next, he asked me to write pseudocode for quicksort.

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After that, he asked me to elaborate on Barclays’ values and how I implemented them in my life, with examples. The interview lasted more than 30 minutes. Finally, he asked if I had any questions for him (again, it’s important to have something to ask).

Round 4: Prank Round

This round was unexpected. The interviewer called out the names of students and announced that they were not selected for the next round — but it was a prank! Everyone in the room was selected.

In the end, 23 students, including myself, secured an internship.

Additional Tips

• Interview experiences vary: While this was my experience, my friend’s interview was different. Both of his rounds were entirely technical, focusing on system design (high-level), DSA, and OOPs questions. Be prepared for a variety of question types depending on the interviewer and the panel.
• Research the company well: It’s essential to be familiar with its background and values.
• Be honest with your answers: The interviewers are highly experienced, and they can easily tell whether you are being honest or not. If you don’t know the answer, politely tell them that you don’t know or are not able to recall it. Don’t beat around the bush.
• Know Barclays’ RISES values: Either you will be asked about it in the interview, or you will be judged based on your answers. If asked in an interview, try to explain how you have followed it during your projects or hackathons.
• Guide the interview: If you have the opportunity, try to steer the conversation toward topics you’re comfortable with.
• Know your resume thoroughly: Be prepared to explain every project and technology you’ve listed.
• Learn from previous experiences: Reading about others’ interviews can be very helpful.
• Don’t get discouraged by rejections: Don’t get disheartened if you don’t get selected. I, myself, faced 3 rejections before this. Don’t lose hope if your interview didn’t go well compared to others. Sometimes miracles happen (My OA was not that good). Learn from your rejections, analyze what went wrong, and prepare accordingly.
• Ask questions: Always have questions prepared for the interviewer.
• Trust the process: Consistency and hard work over time will reflect in your overall performance.
• DSA Practice: Regularly practice DSA questions (I followed Striver’s sheet).
• Stay positive and persistent: Luck can play a role, but hard work is key. If I can do it, you can too!

Feel free to reach out to me: LinkedIn

Lastly, I would like to say that luck surely plays a role, but hard work is everything. Sometimes, even after giving great interviews, you might not get selected. Don’t get disheartened. Be patient, and don’t lose hope and keep preparing. I know this is a very difficult time, but trust me, something great is waiting for you! Stay positive and don’t give up , If I can then you can also !

ALL THE BEST!