Bank Of America Merrill Lynch Software Engineer Interview Guide

The most substantial part of my interview was a one-hour technical discussion with two senior Bank of America developers. I had applied through Insight Global, and a recruiter contacted me within a week. The initial screening lasted about 15 minutes and covered my background, visa status, expectations, availability, and the role and team. It was largely resume-based, with questions about my current project, day-to-day responsibilities, and experience using Java, Spring Boot, microservices, and cloud technologies.

The second round went deeper into the stack without becoming heavily algorithmic. The developers asked about core Java topics such as object-oriented programming, collections, and basic multithreading. We also discussed Spring Boot, microservices architecture, REST API design, appropriate HTTP status codes, API best practices, and foundational SQL and database design. The main system-design question was how I would build a scalable payment-processing system, so I had to explain the architecture and reasoning behind my choices rather than simply name technologies.

There was also a medium-level coding problem involving arrays or strings. It was not an interview dominated by LeetCode-style exercises; most of the hour was spent testing practical knowledge and how clearly I could work through a problem. The interviewers were professional and seemed more interested in my thought process than whether I immediately reached the final answer. I was not selected to move forward after this round, but the overall interaction was positive.

For preparation, I would focus on explaining Java and Spring Boot concepts in the context of real projects, especially microservices and REST API decisions. I would also rehearse a scalable payment-system design and practice talking through a moderate array or string problem aloud.