Ion Trading interview experience Real time questions & tips from candidates to crack your interview

SDE - 1

Ion Trading
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6 rounds | 7 Coding problems

Interview preparation journey

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Journey
Started exploring data structures in my third semester. Had a keen inclination towards problem-solving and thus began practicing problems consistently. Set a target to solve at least one question every day, which helped provide a daily boost. Cracked an internship at Microsoft with knowledge of data structures and eventually got placed at Ion Trading Group.
Application story
The company ION Trading Group came to our campus. The first round was resume shortlisting followed by an online test. The test included questions on DSA, algorithms, computer science fundamentals, logical aptitude, and basic quantitative aptitude. This was followed by five interviews: technical, case study, stakeholders, country fit, and future fit rounds.
Why selected/rejected for the role?
Had good communication skills, command over DSA, Projects and computer science fundamentals and thus got selected.
Preparation
Duration: 3 months
Topics: Data Structures, OOPS, Algorithms, Dynamic Programming, Graphs, CN, DBMS, OS
Tip
Tip

Tip 1 : Focus on the quality of questions and not the quantity.
Tip 2 : Try to solve problems daily and consistently.
Tip 3 : Have good hands on the computer science fundamentals.

Application process
Where: Campus
Eligibility: Above 7.5 CGPA
Resume Tip
Resume tip

Tip 1 : Have good projects on your resume. 
Tip 2 : Have an in-depth idea of fundamentals and the data structures.

Interview rounds

01
Round
Medium
Online Coding Interview
Duration120 minutes
Interview date27 Aug 2023
Coding problem1

1. Count Distinct Substrings

Moderate
10m average time
90% success
0/80
Asked in companies
AdobeAmazonIntuit

Given a string 'S', you are supposed to return the number of distinct substrings(including empty substring) of the given string. You should implement the program using a trie.

Note :
A string ‘B’ is a substring of a string ‘A’ if ‘B’ that can be obtained by deletion of, several characters(possibly none) from the start of ‘A’ and several characters(possibly none) from the end of ‘A’. 

Two strings ‘X’ and ‘Y’ are considered different if there is at least one index ‘i’  such that the character of ‘X’ at index ‘i’ is different from the character of ‘Y’ at index ‘i’(X[i]!=Y[i]).
Problem approach

I tried to generate all the substrings and store them in the trie along with their creation. If a substring already exists in the trie, we can ignore it; otherwise, we can make an entry and increase the count. Let’s see a detailed explanation.

Try solving now
02
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration70 minutes
Interview date1 Sep 2023
Coding problem2

It was the technical round.

1. Puzzle

Ishita has 10 bags full of coins. Each bag contains 1000 coins. However, one bag is filled with forgeries, and she cannot remember which one it is. She does know that genuine coins weigh 1 gram, but forgeries weigh 1.1 grams. To conceal the fact that she cannot remember which bag contains forgeries, she needs your help. How can she identify the bag with the forgeries with just one weighing?

Problem approach

Tip 1 : Read the puzzle thoroughly.
Tip 2 : Try to ask questions.
Tip 3 : Provide an elucidating explanation.

2. Next Greater Element

Easy
10m average time
90% success
0/40
Asked in companies
IBMShareChatWells Fargo

You are given an array 'a' of size 'n'.



The Next Greater Element for an element 'x' is the first element on the right side of 'x' in the array, which is greater than 'x'.


If no greater elements exist to the right of 'x', consider the next greater element as -1.


For example:
Input: 'a' = [7, 12, 1, 20]

Output: NGE = [12, 20, 20, -1]

Explanation: For the given array,

- The next greater element for 7 is 12.

- The next greater element for 12 is 20. 

- The next greater element for 1 is 20. 

- There is no greater element for 20 on the right side. So we consider NGE as -1.
Problem approach

Firstly, we discussed the brute force method using two for loops to check for every element and find the next greater element. The optimized approach involved using a stack to store indices, which allows retrieval of the next greater element in O(n) time complexity.

Try solving now
03
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration60 minutes
Interview date1 Sep 2023
Coding problem1

It was a case study round.

1. Case Study

You are a cab sharing startup in the US. All your customers pay through credit cards and have active internet connections. 

Four questions followed - 

I. Tabular data containing features such as percentage of paved roads, number of people having credit cards, number of people having internet connection, population density, per capita income, etc. of some countries. Which country to expand to? 

II. What are the factors that heavily affect your expansion in a new country, explain. 

III. What major cost components are involved in a cab-sharing startup such as yours? 

IV. Tabular data showing features of each of urban, suburban and rural areas. Determine which area you should expand to and justify your answer.

Problem approach

Tip 1 : Read the case study properly.
Tip 2 : Do ask questions whenever required.
Tip 3 : Present the answer in a concise manner.

04
Round
Easy
Video Call
Duration30 minutes
Interview date1 Sep 2023
Coding problem1

It was an HR Round.

1. Basic HR Questions

Tell me about yourself

Why would you want to join our company?

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Problem approach

Tip 1 : Be very sound with communication skills.
Tip 2 : Have a smile to have a good impression.
Tip 3 : Listen to the interviewer and then only answer.

05
Round
Medium
Group Discussion
Duration75 minutes
Interview date5 Sep 2023
Coding problem1

It was a country fit/ HR Round

1. Group Discussion

Your views on the increase in the use of AI and what will be its long-term effect?

06
Round
Medium
Video Call
Duration15 minutes
Interview date5 Sep 2023
Coding problem1

It was a Future Fit Round.

1. Project Related Question

Why did I use Mongo?

Why React?

What problems I had faced during project making?

How did you managed working in team during project making?

Problem approach

Tip 1 : Being thorough with the resume
Tip 2 : Revision of the Projects
Tip 3 : Revise commonly asked HR questions.

Here's your problem of the day

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

Skill covered: Programming

What is the purpose of the return keyword?

Choose another skill to practice
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