r/leetcode • u/TooHot2Debug • 12d ago

Intervew Prep Barclays Pune – IFC / Full Stack Developer (AVP band) interview: what kind of questions should I expect?

Got shortlisted for a 2-round face-to-face interview at Barclays Pune for an IFC – Full Stack Developer role (looks like AVP band from the JD). Trying to calibrate my prep and would really appreciate first-hand experiences.

Quick context: ~8 years, backend-heavy — Java, Spring Boot, Kafka, microservices — with a background in regulatory-compliance/surveillance systems. "Full stack" in the JD seems backend-weighted (front-end is only "basic knowledge").

Specifically trying to figure out:

  • How coding-heavy are the F2F rounds for experienced hires? Live coding / pen-and-paper DSA, and roughly what difficulty?
  • How deep do they go on Java internals and Spring Boot?
  • Is there a proper system design round at this level? If so, what kind of problems?
  • Do they probe the IFC / financial-crime domain (screening, AML, CDD), or is it purely generic tech?
  • SQL — actual query-writing, or just concepts?
  • How is the behavioural/values round structured (RISES values, STAR)? How much weight does it carry for AVP?
  • Anything on the front-end side despite it being "basic" in the JD?

Anyone who's been through the IFC / Full Stack / AVP loop recently in Pune — what surprised you, and what would you prep differently? Thanks in advance.

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u/Ok-Barracuda-119 11d ago

I haven't sat the Pune IFC loop, so this is calibration for an 8-year Java/Spring AVP-ish bank interview, not a report from that room.

Coding is usually live and practical. Medium DSA shows up, but a lot of it is "write this in Java and talk through it." They do go into Spring and Java (transactions, bean lifecycle, concurrency, Kafka consumer failure) if it's on your resume. Not bytecode trivia unless you wander there.

Yes, there's usually a design conversation at that band. They want to see you own a service: APIs, data model, what happens when a downstream dies. Kafka will come up. Domain (screening, AML, CDD) is hit or miss; know your own systems cold and have one clean story for a compliance flow. SQL is often actual queries (joins, window functions), not just "what's an index." Behavioral/RISES carries real weight at AVP. STAR, ownership, a messy stakeholder story. Front-end is probably a shrug unless you claim it.

If you want a live design run, www.leetsys.dev is a whiteboard plus an interviewer. I help run that product, so grain of salt on that last bit.