I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at AquaQ Analytics
Interview
Had a pleasant 30min conversation where we discussed my ambitions, motivations, along with projects I had listed in my CV. The interviewers were friendly and easy to talk to. They also asked what I knew about kdb and AquaQ in general.
I applied online. I interviewed at AquaQ Analytics
Interview
Followed procedure stated in other reviews, beginning with fairly straight forward logic test completed with pen and paper. This was followed by a few in person logic questions which led into an informal interview.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Typical interview questions. Why you want the job etc.
I applied online. I interviewed at AquaQ Analytics (Belfast, Northern Ireland) in Sept 2017
Interview
I was initially phoned by their Recruiter. We talked about the contents of my CV, and a brief overview of the the role.
I was then invited to the first stage interview. I was greeted by the recruiter, and was brought to a boardroom where I met with two current members of the development staff. (They had mentioned it was their first time interviewing someone, I thought they did very well. They were friendly and informative to any questions I asked). Here I was quizzed about my CV, kdb+/q, more aspects of the role, and some basic Finance understanding.
Some basics of the kdb+/q language were discussed here and I was asked why there was no order of precedence in the language. The answer being that this makes the processing very fast.
After the talking part of the interview, I was told I would be given 40 minutes to complete a Logic Test.
This test wasn't hard or difficult, it was just a bit tedious.
It consisted of flow-chart type commands that related to boxes of numbers at the top. The questions then got more complex in terms of commands and 'flow'.
A command may have said to take the contents of Box2 and add it to the content of Box3, then put the result in Box5. With the Question at the end being, "What number is now in Box10?". There may have been 5-10 commands with forks in the flow from whether or not a Box contained a certain number.
I was then left in the boardroom for nearly 90 minutes.
I stopped writing answers at the 40 minute mark (as instructed), then continued to look through the paper at the questions I didn't get time to complete, to see if I could have done them. I didn't deem it appropriate to leave the boardroom when I was told at the start of the test I would be checked upon once the time had expired.
Eventually, a member of staff who was returning from a telephone call, walked past the glass walled boardroom, saw me sitting there, and went to alert the recruiting staff member.
I felt this was super unprofessional. I initially thought it was a test to see if I would cheat in the scenario, but no, they had legitimately forgot about me.
I was asked how I found the test. To which my reply was, "It was ok, and I'm sure I could have cheated and completed it, but I didn't".
I received an email the following Monday saying I was not getting called back for a second interview.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How much floor space does Manhattan Island have now compared to original land area?