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

SDE - Intern

D.E.Shaw
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4 rounds | 5 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Preparation
Duration: 12 Months
Topics: Data Structure, Algorithms, DBMS, System Design, Operating System
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : Solve atleast 300 coding questions.
Tip 2 : Have some good projects on resume.
Tip 3 : Be truthful.

Application process
Where: Campus
Eligibility: 8 CGPA
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1 : Have 2 or 3 good projects.
Tip 2 : Don't lie on your resume.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Medium
Online Coding Interview
Duration150 Minutes
Interview date11 Sep 2020
Coding problem2

This first round was the Online test which was 1 Hour 95 Minutes Long. It was Divided
as Follows.

1. Aptitude Section (Arithmetic + Analytical) 14 Questions – 26 Minutes
2. Technical MCQs( Computer Science) 14 Questions – 19 Minutes
3. Coding Question – 20 Minutes
4. Coding Question – 30 Minutes
5. Coding Questions :

1. Water

Easy
15m average time
85% success
0/40
Asked in companies
AmazonAdobeMicrosoft

You are given an array 'ARR' of positive integers, each of which represents the number of liters of water in that particular bucket, we have to make the liters of water in every bucket equal.

We are allowed to do two types of operations any number of times:

1. We can altogether remove a bucket from the sequence

2. We can draw some water from a bucket

We have to tell the minimum number of liters removed to make all buckets have the same amount of water.

For example:

Given ‘N’ = 4 and ‘ARR’ = [1, 1, 2, 2].
The answer will be 2, i.e., if we chose that all buckets should have 1 unit of water, we will have to throw 1 unit of water from buckets 3 and 4. Hence 2.
Try solving now

2. K Max Sum Combinations

Easy
10m average time
90% success
0/40
Asked in companies
Info Edge India (Naukri.com)WalmartD.E.Shaw

You are given two arrays/lists ‘A’ and ‘B’ of size ‘N’ each. You are also given an integer ‘K’. You must return ‘K’ distinct maximum and valid sum combinations from all the possible sum combinations of the arrays/lists ‘A’ and ‘B’.


Sum combination adds one element from array ‘A’ and another from array ‘B’.


For example :
A : [1, 3] 
B : [4, 2] 
K: 2

The possible sum combinations can be 5(3 + 2), 7(3 + 4), 3(1 + 2), 5(1 + 4). 

The 2 maximum sum combinations are 7 and 5. 
Try solving now
02
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration150 Minutes
Interview date13 Sep 2020
Coding problem1

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.

1. Minimum Fountains

Easy
10m average time
80% success
0/40
Asked in companies
AdobeOYOUber

There is a one-dimensional garden of length 'N'. On each of the positions from 0 to 'N', there is a fountain, and this fountain’s water can reach up to a certain range as explained further. In other words, there are 'N' + 1 fountains located at positions 0, 1, 2, 3, …. 'N' which can be activated in the garden.

You are given an integer 'N' and an array/list 'ARR' of length 'N' + 1, where each index of the array denotes the coverage limit of a particular fountain.

A fountain at index 'i' can water the area ranging from the position 'i' - 'ARR'['i'] to 'i' + 'ARR'['i'].

Your task is to find the minimum number of fountains that have to be activated such that the whole garden from position 0 to 'N' has access to the water from at least some fountain.

Note:

1. 0-based indexing is used in the array.
2. We only care about the garden from 0 to 'N' only. So if i - 'ARR'['i'] < 0 or i + 'ARR'['i'] > 'N', you may ignore the exceeding area.
3. If some fountain covers the garden from position 'A' to position 'B', it means that the water from this fountain will spread to the whole line segment with endpoints 'A' and 'B'.
Try solving now
03
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration150 Minutes
Interview date14 Sep 2020
Coding problem2

This was also an Online F2F Technical Round conducted on Codepair : Hackerrank.
Dynamic Programming Based Not So Easy Level:
Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock
Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock II
Dynamic Programming Based Not So Medium Level
Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock with Cooldown
Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock with Transaction Fee
Dynamic Programming Based Hard Level
Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock III
Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock IV

They asked me a Lot of Questions like:
How did you arrive at this Solution ?
Why is this Approach Right ?
Can You do this in Better time & space complexities ? (Although I have done in Best time Complexity but they asked this to check my confidence level on my codes).
A lot of Variants based on Constraints.

1. Best Time To Buy and Sell Stock

Hard
20m average time
80% success
0/120
Asked in companies
AdobeRazorpayOYO

You have been given an array 'PRICES' consisting of 'N' integers where PRICES[i] denotes the price of a given stock on the i-th day. You are also given an integer 'K' denoting the number of possible transactions you can make.

Your task is to find the maximum profit in at most K transactions. A valid transaction involves buying a stock and then selling it.

Note
You can’t engage in multiple transactions simultaneously, i.e. you must sell the stock before rebuying it.
For Example
Input: N = 6 , PRICES = [3, 2, 6, 5, 0, 3] and K = 2.
Output: 7

Explanation : The optimal way to get maximum profit is to buy the stock on day 2(price = 2) and sell it on day 3(price = 6) and rebuy it on day 5(price = 0) and sell it on day 6(price = 3). The maximum profit will be (6 - 2) + (3 - 0) = 7.
Try solving now

2. Buy and Sell Stock

Hard
0/120
Asked in companies
MyntraGrowwAtlassian

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’ which such that ‘prices[i]’ denotes the price of the stock on the ith day.


You don't want to do more than 2 transactions. Find the maximum profit that you can earn from these transactions.


Note

1. Buying a stock and then selling it is called one transaction.

2. You are not allowed to do multiple transactions at the same time. This means you have to sell the stock before buying it again. 
Example:
Input: ‘n’ = 7, ‘prices’ = [3, 3, 5, 0, 3, 1, 4].

Output: 6

Explanation: 
The maximum profit can be earned by:
Transaction 1: Buying the stock on day 4 (price 0) and then selling it on day 5 (price 3). 
Transaction 2: Buying the stock on day 6 (price 1) and then selling it on day 6 (price 4).
Total profit earned will be (3 - 0) + ( 4 - 1) = 6. 
Try solving now
04
Round
Easy
Telephonic
Duration30 Minutes
Interview date16 Sep 2020
Coding problem0

This was an HR round. He asked me lot of questions:
I. How was your Interview Experience ?
II. What difficulty did you face this time in the Virtual Recruitment Process ?
III. If the Questions were relevant those were asked in the Interviews ?
IV. Have you worked in a Team Before ?
V. If you will have a contradiction with your colleague then how will you sort this ?
VI. What major Projects did you have made ?
VII. If not D.E Shaw then What ?
VIII. Next Five Year Goals ?
 

Here's your problem of the day

Solving this problem will increase your chance to get selected in this company

Skill covered: Programming

Which SQL keyword removes duplicate records from a result set?

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