Barclays Interview Experience

Hello, I am Sakshi Gangurde, currently pursuing B.Tech in Information Technology from PICT, Batch of 2026. I recently had the opportunity to appear for the Barclays recruitment process, and I would like to share my interview experience.

For Barclays, only around 150 candidates were shortlisted for the Online Assessment (OA) based on the following eligibility criteria:

• 10th & 12th Percentage : Minimum 70%
• CGPA : Minimum 9

Round 1: Online Assessment (OA)

Pattern:

• 12 MCQs (Core Subjects + Aptitude)
• 1 SQL Query
• 1 DSA Coding Question → LeetCode 3474: Lexicographically Smallest Generated String

Difficulty Level: Medium

Round 2: Technical Interview (~1 hr)

1. Introduction & Personal Discussion

• Greeted the interviewer
• Asked about my hometown
• Talked about Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya schooling experience (10 mins)
• Question on drop in 12th marks and motivation for 10 SGPA in college

2. Resume & Technical Questions

• Languages & Frameworks: Discussed as per resume
• Core Java: Exception Handling → all 5 keywords with examples and code
• DSA: How to sort an array (without explicit sorting algorithm)
• DevOps Basics: Asked about DevOps fundamentals, especially CI/CD pipelines and version control
• Internship Project:

Explained project flow, features implemented, and my role
Detailed questions on MongoDB database implementation
Asked to draw Use Case Diagram of the database
Project discussion lasted ~25 mins with multiple counter-questions

3. Behavioral & Leadership

• Situation when my idea was ignored but later accepted
• Conflict resolution within a team.
• Leadership qualities and teamwork experiences.

4. Wrap-up

• Asked the interviewer about Barclays’ team culture → she shared about department & fun activities (~10 mins)
• Asked for feedback → she smiled and said, “You’ll get to know in some minutes”

Round 3: HR Interview (30–40 mins)

1. Start

• Entered the room → HR directly asked for my GitHub ID (no intro)
• Asked how my technical interview went

2. GitHub & Projects

• Checked my repositories and commit history
• Asked about my favorite project
• Explained features, scalability, and future improvements
• HR was verifying with actual commits while I explained
• Questions on project usage and user base

3. Behavioral Questions

• Situation-based, long, and tricky questions
• Initially nervous, but maintained a smile
• Feedback: “For behavioral questions, don’t always stick to projects—share real-life experiences too”

4. Closing

• Asked if this was my first interview → I said yes
• He explained why my behavioral answers felt limited to projects

Overall Experience & Learnings

• Technical Round: Tested Java fundamentals, DSA, DBMS, and internship project in depth
• HR Round: Focused on GitHub activity, authenticity, and behavioral responses
• Learning: