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

Technology Developer

D.E.Shaw
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2 rounds | 6 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Preparation
Duration: 6 Months
Topics: Data Structures, OOPS, Algorithms, OS, DBMS, CN
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : before interview, practice questions with company tag on websites like leetcode and see previous experiences
Tip 2 : even if you're able to solve the question, see approaches used by other people and try to solve the question in multiple ways

Application process
Where: Other
Eligibility: No criteria
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1 : put links of your work like competitive coding profiles, hosted projects, github, etc
Tip 2 : revise everything on your resume before interview

Interview rounds

01
Round
Hard
Online Coding Interview
Duration120 Minutes
Interview date16 Jan 2022
Coding problem3

1. Number Pattern 3

Easy
10m average time
80% success
0/40
Asked in companies
HCL TechnologiesIHS MarkitTravClan

A high-security meeting has been arranged. Tables for the delegates and security personnel have been arranged. A total of ‘N’ rows of tables has been set up. The first row has one table, the second row has two, and so on. To ensure maximum security, the tables on either end of each row have been assigned for security personnel each. If there is only one table in a row, it will be assigned to a security personnel. The tables assigned for security personnel will host exactly one security personnel each. All the other tables will host two guests each.

You are given an integer ‘N’, which denotes the number of rows., You are supposed to print the table pattern indicating the number of guests or security personnel at each table. In other words, print the number of people in each table.

For example, if the number of rows are 4, the table pattern is as follows:
1
11
121
1221
Try solving now

2. Minimum Sum in matrix

Moderate
15m average time
85% success
0/80
Asked in companies
OlaAmazonWolters Kluwer

You are given a 2D matrix ‘ARR’ of size ‘N x 3’ having integers, where ‘N’ is the number of rows.

Your task is to find the smallest sum possible while taking one element from each row.

The rules for selecting elements are as follows-

1. In a row, after selecting an element at a given position, you cannot select the element directly below it
2. You can only select elements that are not directly below the previously selected element.
Try solving now

3. Buy and Sell Stock

Hard
0/120
Asked in companies
Samsung R&D InstituteMicrosoftSalesforce

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
02
Round
Medium
Face to Face
Duration90 Minutes
Interview date14 Feb 2022
Coding problem3

1. PRETTY JSON

Easy
10m average time
90% success
0/40
Asked in companies
FacebookDeltaXD.E.Shaw

You are given a string 'STR' representing JSON object. Return an array of strings denoting JSON objects with proper indentation.

Rules for proper indentation:
1. Every inner brace should increase one indentation to the following lines.
2. Every close brace should decrease one indentation to the same line and the following lines.
3. Every ‘,’ will mean a separate line.
4. The indents can be increased with an additional 4 spaces or ‘/t’.
Example:
Let the input be: "{A:"B",C:{D:"E",F:{G:"H",I:"J"}}}"

Then we return the following array of strings: 
{ 
    A:"B",
    C: 
    { 
        D:"E",
        F: 
        { 
            G:"H",
            I:"J"
        } 
    } 
}

Note that for every new brace we are putting an additional 4 spaces or \t.
Note:
1. [] and {} are only acceptable braces in this case.
Try solving now

2. Find Peak Element

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

You are given an array 'arr' of length 'n'. Find the index(0-based) of a peak element in the array. If there are multiple peak numbers, return the index of any peak number.


Peak element is defined as that element that is greater than both of its neighbors. If 'arr[i]' is the peak element, 'arr[i - 1]' < 'arr[i]' and 'arr[i + 1]' < 'arr[i]'.


Assume 'arr[-1]' and 'arr[n]' as negative infinity.


Note:
1.  There are no 2 adjacent elements having same value (as mentioned in the constraints).
2.  Do not print anything, just return the index of the peak element (0 - indexed).
3. 'True'/'False' will be printed depending on whether your answer is correct or not.


Example:

Input: 'arr' = [1, 8, 1, 5, 3]

Output: 3

Explanation: There are two possible answers. Both 8 and 5 are peak elements, so the correct answers are their positions, 1 and 3.


Problem approach

1. I gave a O(n) solution doing a basic iteration and comparing each element with its neighbors.
2. But interviewer asked me to optimize further but I was not able to understand how to apply binary search on this

Try solving now

3. Technical Questions

First he started by asking what is the `<<` operator in C++ in the statement `cout << "string";` and what is the concept used here. Then he asked for more examples of operator overloading.
He then asked me what is polymorphism and its examples.

Problem approach

Tip 1 : Revise the basics and be familiar with definitions
Tip 2 : Try to remember examples for different concepts

Here's your problem of the day

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

Skill covered: Programming

How do you remove whitespace from the start of a string?

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