BerkleyNet Interview Questions
& Process

I applied through the campus career fair and got contacted by HR after 2 weeks. I was called for an onsite interview which consisted of 4 rounds with 4 different people. First, I was given a room with 3 sets of programming question papers to complete. The first round was with a DBA girl who asked me database-related questions and how I would handle an issue with no documentation as a new joinee. The second round was with a senior software engineer who asked me Java programming questions since that's my preferred language. The third round was with another software engineer who asked about overriding and overloading concepts. The last round was with a System analyst who asked about my reaction to certain situations and a few basic SQL questions.

I got contacted by an HR manager from a sister company since they are pretty small and she saw my resume. She didn't have a job description and wasn't totally sure about the details but thought I'd be a good fit to interview with the hiring manager. In our hour-long phone chat, her main thing was just checking if the salary was in the 40s. I said it might work depending on the schedule and other benefits. She mentioned it was a new role. Then, I had another hour-long phone interview with the hiring manager. He explained more about the job, like reviewing premium audits from fee auditors and loss control reports, and helping other departments. It sounded good, maybe less challenging than my last job but with chances to learn new things. The only downside was being 100% in-office. When he asked about my previous salary, I said I was in the 50s, and he didn't push back. He immediately wanted me to meet the Director of Underwriting in person. The Director lives out of state and only visits town like once or twice a month. I couldn't meet that evening, so we set up a phone interview instead. The second phone interview went well. He said I made good points and had valuable insights from my insurance industry experience. He asked a lot about how I'd do audits differently, my goals, etc. Salary came up again, and when I said I was most comfortable in the 50s but flexible, there was no pushback. We scheduled an in-person interview for two weeks out, and he said I'd need to do a skills assessment/personality test, which took about an hour and covered grammar, basic math, algebra, and personality. During the in-person interview, I had two one-hour meetings with the hiring manager and the Director of Underwriting. We talked more about the role, and I found out it wasn't a new position but an existing one with more responsibilities. The previous person in the role was let go for 'unprofessional behavior.' I'm not sure what to make of that, but in a small company (about 40 people, not all on-site), a 'rough' personality could easily cause problems. The hiring manager seemed really confident in my skills, aptitude, and attitude. The Director of Underwriting brought up some ideas I'd mentioned on the phone, which felt like a good sign. He also suggested other ways my skills could be used. He asked a lot about my last company's book of business, maybe to check my skills or get inside info. I sent a follow-up email to the HR manager as requested, sharing how I thought the interviews went. Two days later, I got a rejection email. When I asked for specifics on why I wasn't a good fit, no reason was given.

I applied for the Java Programmer role at BerkleyNet through indeed.com and quickly got a phone screen from an engineer in their NJ office who asked about OOP, Core Java, and some EJB. About a week later, I went to their Woodbridge VA office for a longer interview. I met the VP, sales manager, and the hiring manager, who's a senior Java developer. They asked behavioral questions about my past experiences and technical questions like what 'static' means, why it's used, how to access a database without SQL or Hibernate, and how to store DB credentials. There was also a brain teaser about three boxes with incorrect labels. The interview felt good, and they mentioned feedback within two days. Unfortunately, despite feeling confident, they never responded, even after I sent multiple emails. The overall experience was good, except for the lack of feedback, which was not okay. The office was nice, but a downside for developers is the on-call requirement, which I'm glad to avoid now. I feel lucky they didn't offer me the job because I got a better one. Otherwise, I'd be on call every month.

It was a couple of rounds for a contract position. Initially, the manager interviewed me, and the second round was with the technical lead. The interviews were good; the lead was open to the ideas I had. I didn't make it because my answers could have been better.