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DE Shaw Interview Experience

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Cracking a Day 1 slot company like DE Shaw is not an easy feat. They try to hire the best candidate out there in campus by offering awesome Job Profile and Salary.
Abhishek could achieve this even though he was not in Computer Science initially. In his own words, ‘I felt a different kind of happiness, something out of this world.

We at TopTalent spoke to Abhishek from NIT Kurukshetra about his experience of a DE Shaw interview and what others can learn from his experience.
TopTalent: What job offers did you have apart from DE Shaw?

DE Shaw was one of the first companies to visit our campus for recruitment. The placement policy of our college doesn’t allow a candidate to participate in the subsequent recruitment process once you are dream placed. So currently, I have a offer only from DE Shaw.

TopTalent: How do you feel on achieving this feat?

I sort of screwed my AIEEE exam and wasn’t able to get the discipline of my choice in NIT Kurukshetra. My interest was towards computer sciences since initial days. We have a provision where you can change you discipline based on your performance in first year. I was fortunate enough to get my branch changed. Needless, one thing led to another and I got this job offer. When the panel announced their results, I felt a different kind of happiness, something out of this world.

TopTalent: What is the profile offered to you in DE Shaw and Why did you choose this opportunity over others?

The profile offered was that of Member Technical, in this capacity, we will be required to designs, implements, and maintains the firm’s computer and communications infrastructure. I chose this opportunity over others because DEShaw has very less number of employees ( around 1300). It feels good to be among the best few.

TopTalent: Can you give us a brief account of the whole interview process?

First, a pen and paper test was conducted, it was a MCQ type paper of 50 minutes. 20 – 20 questions from quant and computer sciences and 10 question were more about recent trends in field. Around 14 students were shortlisted out 150 who appeared in the written test. The level of quant was very high. Average questions solved were 4. I solved 7. There were three rounds, two technical and one hr. In technical rounds, questions were asked from a number of subjects like networks, databases and OS. Puzzles were also asked. I was also asked some design question like implement your own garbage collector. HR round was fairly simple for me.

TopTalent: What was your preparation strategy?What resources did you refer?

I have always believed in making the fundamental concepts of subject very strong. i think that helped me a lot. Apart from that, I practiced a lot on Codechef. I read cracking the coding interview and cormen’s book for algorithms. Geeksforgeeks is also a very good resource. It has a vast variety of questions touching every nook and corner of Data Structures and algorithms. The strategy is to know what you are studying inside out.

TopTalent: What’s your advice to students who are aspiring for similar kind of achievement?

My advice to aspirants aiming for top tech companies would be that reading previous year questions is fine, but you should also be able to answer if something out of the box is asked. If you tell all the standard questions, and are not able to answer something tricky, it will give a very bad impression.


Last Updated : 28 Mar, 2023
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