Bridgewater Associates Data Analyst Interview Questions & Reviews
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Updated Mar 28, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
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Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 6 ratings 
“Very Difficult” Interview
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Interview Experience [?] Based on 6 ratings
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| 1–6 of 6 Bridgewater Associates Interviews | Sort by |
Data Analyst at Bridgewater Associates
Posted Mar 28, 2012
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Declined Offer
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Interviewed Dec 2010 in Westport, CT (took 3 weeks)
I was contacted by an external recruiter to interview for a data analyst role at Bridgewater. I had an initial phone conversation with an internal employee, then was invited for an interview. The interview was a multipart process, first involving a group/panel interview that was meant to test my cultural fit and basically looked at my career and criticized the weaknesses that were apparent from my resume and background. I happily accepted negative feedback, and offered a few of my own weaknesses as well. I did well on the cultural fit section because of the ease with which I accepted criticism. Afterwards, I had an interview with several other prospective candidates where we were given a data problem and asked to discuss how to solve it. After an hour of discussion, we were all placed in front of computers and asked to carry out our plan and solve the problem. After completing the exercise, I went to a breakout room with a few employees and discussed my approach. They were pretty critical of the weaknesses I had shown. Finally, I met with the manager who was hiring for the role, discussed the position, and based on my cultural fit and satisfactory performance during the interview was offered a position on the spot, formalized a few days later.
Interview Questions
Reason for Declining
I turned the position down, having received a better offer elsewhere at the same time. I did not feel the company would be a good cultural fit
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview and a Personality Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Data Analyst at Bridgewater Associates
Posted Feb 13, 2012
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5.0
Very Difficult Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Nov 2011 in Bridgeport, CT (took 1+ week)
Be prepared if you interview for Bridgewater. They are ruthless and will hound you for every detail possible on a subject. Also the feeback they provide is quite harsh.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Data Analyst at Bridgewater Associates
Posted Feb 2, 2012 — 2 of 2 people found this helpful
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5.0
Very Difficult Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Mar 2011 in Westport, CT (took 2 weeks)
I applied online through an alumni career website. A few days later, I had a phone interview with the recruiter. The recruiter asked, "Are you comfortable receiving and giving criticism?" "Do you prefer to receive criticism from superiors or subordinates?" They want you to say that you can take criticism from anyone (including your peers). Employees are encouraged to record mistakes in the company log and identify the individual(s) responsible for them. Then the recruiter scheduled a phone interview with a current Bridgewater employee which took place about 5 days later. The employee asked behavioral questions to determine whether I would be a good fit. They prefer opinionated individuals who do not shy away from heated debates and can withstand unrelenting criticism. He asked questions such as, "Do you feel comfortable with direct forms of communication and telling people exactly what you think?"
A few days after the phone interview, the recruiter contacted me to schedule an in person interview at Bridgewater. The interview was from 9am-1pm with no break. When I arrived, I checked in with two female receptionists, waited about 20 minutes, then was escorted to the interview room. There are lots of cameras and security guards (in plain clothes). I wasn't allowed to take my purse or cell phone in the interview room. There were three other candidates with me (white males) and three white male interviewers. They asked us if it was okay for them to film the interview. We had to discuss how we would correct errors in a data set. They took notes about who spoke, how often they spoke, and the quality of their contributions. Be sure to participate frequently!
Then we were given 90 minutes to correct errors in an Excel data set and graph. Afterwards I had an interview with two Bridgewater employees who were also white and male. They asked if it was okay for them to record the interview. They reviewed my resume and asked, "Why Bridgewater? Why would you fit the culture? Describe a time when you had a conflict with your boss etc." They asked whether I told my boss I was looking for another job. I told them no, which apparently was the wrong answer because it shows that I am not committed to the the Bridgewater values of radical truth and honesty. I guess I could have lied and said yes, but I thought they valued honesty. Instead, they use it to trap you.
Most people understand that it is not prudent to tell your boss that you're looking for another job if you want to remain employed. According to my interviewers, you should tell your boss even if this means you'll get fired. They also said that if you disagree with a decision your boss makes, you should tell them that their decision is stupid. Clearly, they don't understand the power differentials that exist between an employer and a subordinate. You cannot apply Dalio's principles in more traditional workplaces. I explained that you must tailor your response to suit the context.
I also said that it's not always smart to say exactly what you feel when someone has the power to limit your advancement or fire you. This doesn't mean that you don't believe in "radical truth and honesty" nor does it mean that you're afraid to speak your mind. I told them that they are rarely in subordinate positions and therefore do not know how to negotiate a power dynamic that does not favor them. They don't have to navigate controlling stereotypes and double binds that require you to be assertive while punishing you for doing so by calling you angry and difficult.
Bridgewater pretends to be open-minded, meritocratic, and non-hierarchical, however in keeping with in-group bias, they only hire people who are similar to them and they do not believe in diversity. I used my middle name on my resume which probably helped me make it to the final round (it sounds less "ethnic"). I do commend them for being honest about it and for not pretending to care.
One positive is that unlike other interviews, you immediately receive feedback about your performance, strengths, and weaknesses. They also schedule a follow up interview to discuss why you did not receive an offer and you can give your honest appraisal of the interview process (they don't record it).
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a Group/Panel Interview, a Skills Test and a Personality Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Data Analyst at Bridgewater Associates
Posted Dec 8, 2011 — 1 of 1 people found this helpful
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Nov 2011 in Westport, CT (took 3 weeks)
The process started with a 30 minute long phone interview. The interviewer was polite and friendly, didn't seem to care much about my skill set, rather wanted to know how comfortable I was with giving/receiving criticism and how proactive I was with sharing my opinions and suggestions.
Two weeks later I was scheduled to have the in-house interview at their main campus in Westport. I was put in a room with another interviewee and three of BW folks who asked the two of us about how we would find errors and bugs in a data set. Following that I was left alone in the room to apply my ideas (the ones I had shared with them during the panel interview) to a flawed dataset in a spreadsheet. Next, two of the same interviewers came back and questioned what I had done. They were not happy with my logic; essentially they kept saying that if there was a flaw with the data I should MERELY use my judgement and fix it WITHOUT refering to data source or any benchmark out there for reconciliation because that's how things were done at Bridgewater! For some 10-15 minutes I was exposed to a lecture on the importance of judgement(?) and then they stopped the interview process because (and I'm not fabricating this) I seemed knowledgeable and my thought process was very logical however the "power of judgement" mattered more to the fund!
I left with a smile on my face ...
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a Recruiter and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a Group/Panel Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Data Analyst at Bridgewater Associates
Posted Jul 11, 2011
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Apr 2010 (took a day)
The interview was two on one. It consisted of them explaining the position to me then asking what I expected to get out of the postion, and where I saw myself in 5 years. I probed them further on the position, because it just was not what I envisioned when I first applied. I think they picked up on that and asked if I thought it was anything like I expected. I'm glad we figured that one out over the phone. The call proved informative.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Data Analyst at Bridgewater Associates
Posted Dec 12, 2010 — 0 of 1 people found this helpful
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5.0
Very Difficult Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Sep 2009 (took a day)
Not what i expected. Was asked very abstract questions that seemed very unrelated to the job. Would highly recommend asking an employee before another interview for a heads up
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview, an IQ/Intelligence Test, a Skills Test, a Personality Test and a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
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