D.E.Shaw interview experience Real time questions & tips from candidates to crack your interview

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D.E.Shaw

4 rounds | 7 Coding problems

Akarsh Mittal

Fresher | Nov 2020

Selected

Interview preparation journey

Journey

First of all, I got selected for a Tier 1 college. From there, my coding journey began. After learning DSA basics, I jumped to Leet code and Code Studio and practised a lot of questions from there. Later, I started with competitive programming and regularly gave contests on Code forces and Code chef. That helped me to build my coding skills and think effective solutions quickly. I tried to solve 5-10 medium to difficult questions on a daily basis.

Application story

De Shaw visited to my campus for the placement. We just had to upload resume and fill all details in the form. First shortlisting was done on the basis of CGPA and Resume.

Why selected/rejected for the role?

I was selected because, I could solve almost all the problems that were asked and I seemed enthusiastic about the role of a Developer. I had done competitive coding, so I was able to answer questions quickly and effectively. My verbal skills were decent and I could deliver my thought process and decision making in both Technical and HR round.

Preparation

Duration: 4 months

Topics: Dynamic Programming, OOPS, Computer Networks, Computer System Architecture, Operating System, Data Structures, Pointers

Tip

Tip 1 : Make sure that you are thorough with CS concepts beforehand.
Tip 2 : Even when you are explaining the approach to a question, try to parallelly think about how you would code it.
Tip 3 : Read the previous interview experiences. It would give a fair idea of the kind of questions one should expect.
Tip 4 : For a company like DE Shaw, practicing medium and hard difficulty level coding questions would be the way to go.
Tip 5 : Practice atleast 200 questions from coding platforms like CodeZen, LeetCode, Interviewbit as they contain common interview questions.

Application process

Where: Campus

Eligibility: Above 8.5 CGPA ( Only CSE, IT, ECE - both UG and PG )

Resume tip

Tip 1 : Mention atleast 1 project and past work experience as it sets good impression.
Tip 2 : Keep your resume up to date for the role you are applying.
Tip 3 : Try to keep your resume of 1 Page.

Interview rounds

Round

Easy

Online Coding Interview

Duration95 minutes

Interview date9 Nov 2020

Coding problem2

This round was conducted in Hackerrank portal for a total duration of 95 minutes and was divided into 4 sections.

1st Section : Aptitude Section : 14 questions , 28 minutes
2nd Section : Technical Section : 12 questions , 17 minutes
3rd Section : 2 coding Questions : 20 minutes+30 minutes

This Round was Conducted on Hackerrank (Webcam Enabled).

1. Coin Game

Easy

15m average time

85% success

0/40

Asked in companies

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2. Magic Index

Easy

20m average time

80% success

0/40

Asked in companies

You are given a sorted array A consisting of N integers. Your task is to find the magic index in the given array.

Note :

1. A magic index in an arr...

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Round

Medium

Face to Face

Duration120 minutes

Interview date11 Nov 2020

Coding problem2

This was an Online F2F Technical Round conducted on CodePair : Hackerrank. So, Basically You have to Run and Submit ( Pass All Test cases) in the Interview Round also (Like normal Coding Test) in Codepair : Hackerrank & along with that You should have to explain your Code and Approach to the Interviewers.
The Interviewers were helpful and didn't hesitate in giving hints.
Timing - 10:00 A.M to 12:00 P.M

1. Minimum Number Of Taps To Water Garden

Hard

15m average time

85% success

0/120

Asked in companies

The gardener wants to water the garden by opening the minimum number of taps. The garden is one-dimensional along the x-axis of length N i.e. ...

Problem approach

I used greedy.

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2. Money in Bank

Easy

15m average time

85% success

0/40

Asked in companies

Harshit wants to save money for his first car. So, he puts money in the Ninja bank every day.

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Round

Hard

Face to Face

Duration120 minutes

Interview date14 Nov 2020

Coding problem2

A lot of Variants based on Constraints were asked in this Round. They will ask you to write the final code for every question before Submitting it(run all test cases) so you won’t get any hints after running test cases in the IDE. ( So don’t Submit your code before dry running it on a lot of Test Cases on pen & paper , they allow to use pen & blank paper at the time of Interviews) .The Interviewers tried to trick in case of time complexities even if you gave the best one. So try to be confident.

1. Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock III

Hard

0/120

Asked in companies

You are Harshad Mehta’s friend. He told you the price of a particular stock for the next ‘n’ days.

You are given an array ‘prices...

Try solving now

2. Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock III

Hard

0/120

Asked in companies

You are Harshad Mehta’s friend. He told you the price of a particular stock for the next ‘n’ days.

You are given an array ‘prices...

Try solving now

Round

Easy

HR Round

Duration30 minutes

Interview date15 Nov 2020

Coding problem1

This was a Telephonic Round (Audio Call). The HR was friendly and asked basic questions.
The timing was 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM.

1. Rabbit Jumping

Easy

20m average time

80% success

0/40

Asked in companies

You are given ‘n’ carrots numbered from 1 to ‘n’. There are k rabbits. Rabbits can jump to carrots only with the multiples of Aj(Aj,2Aj,3Aj…) for all rabbits from 1 to k.

Problem approach

Tip 1 : Prepare Subjects in Depth for Technical Coding & Interview Round. Cracking the DE Shaw interview is not possible just by reading the short articles one night before.They ask the questions in-depth.
Tip 2 : All the Questions were basic in the HR Round !! … Be Honest in HR Round as well as Technical Rounds.
Tip 3 : Be Confident in HR Round and don't hesitate while answering and ...

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