Just to give a perspective, i come from a strong technical position from a HFT firm. They handout out a 30 min written test, taken out of an online java server side questionnaire. Get your own papers to solve them as they didn't supply them to me. If you clear the test, you will be interviewed by their technical cadre. The interviewers have a thick accent and uncommunicative , not a single smile. They seem to have a condescending attitude for others. I understand the difference between being proud of your system vs looking down on others. I guess the culture of the company shows up in the interviewers attitude - one of the interviewers (snr developer) ends with "okay, i have asked what i am told to ask. i will call the next interviwer" - seriously, are u following a written script! The second interviewer( technical manager) never had a clear flow of thought. he asks a question, probably, expecting a pre framed answer. When i try to logically reason out, he gets disinterested and jumps to a different question.