Wells Fargo · Primly Community

Wells Fargo coding interview / online assessment, format and difficulty

sre_sol · 5 replies

Did the Wells Fargo online assessment last month, applying for a senior software engineer role on their payments platform team. Here's exactly what I saw.

Format: HackerRank platform. 90 minutes total. Two coding problems plus one multiple-choice section that felt more like a general CS knowledge quiz (Big-O, database indexing basics, REST concepts). The quiz is timed separately.

Problem difficulty: one problem was solidly medium LeetCode, the other was medium-hard. Not an easy round. The medium was a graph problem, BFS/DFS territory. The medium-hard was a DP problem with memoization. No pure string-parsing fluff, both had actual algorithmic substance.

Time distribution matters here. The DP problem took me 45 of my 90 minutes just to get a working solution, which meant I was rushing the last few test cases. I'd recommend solving the easier one first and making sure it passes all edge cases before touching the harder one.

Language choices available: Java, Python, C++, C#, JavaScript, Scala. I used Python.

What I wasn't expecting: there's a section at the end asking about your communication style and work preferences. Not scored in an obvious way but present. Takes about 10 minutes.

Post-OA, I heard back in 6 days with a recruiter screen. So the pipeline seems to actually function, unlike some of the mega-banks where OA scores disappear into a void.

For prep: standard LeetCode medium grind is enough if you're solid on graphs and DP. I wouldn't bother memorizing bank-specific CS trivia, the MC section was straightforward.

5 replies

visa_vik

Was the OA proctored with a webcam? Some banks have gone that direction and it's stressful if you're not expecting it.

pivot_pat

Not proctored with video in my case. There's a tab-switch detection thing, but no webcam. Proctoring has come and gone at WF based on role level from what I can tell. Mine was non-proctored but I've seen people mention otherwise for different teams.

mobile_mara

Is this the same OA format for new grad / entry level? Or is it a different track?

hardware_hugo

New grads get the same HackerRank platform in my understanding, but the problems are calibrated slightly easier. Still, don't go in cold. LeetCode mediums are fair game.

hardware_hugo

90 minutes for two mediums plus a quiz section is actually tighter than it sounds. Most people I know use close to 80 minutes on the coding alone.