The interview process usually begins with an initial screening call, where I speak with someone from the recruitment team. This first conversation is mostly about my background, motivations, and general fit for the role. It’s also a chance for me to learn more about the company, its culture, and what they’re looking for.
If that goes well, the next step is often a technical or problem-solving interview. Depending on the role, it might involve discussing projects I’ve worked on, solving quantitative or coding exercises, or explaining how I approach complex problems. I really enjoy this stage because it’s a chance to show how I think and to have an in-depth exchange about real challenges.
After that, there’s usually a final round with team members or senior staff. These interviews tend to be more conversational, focused on how I’d fit into the team, how I handle collaboration and feedback, and what motivates me in the long term.
Overall, I see the interview process as a two-way conversation — a way for both sides to see if we’d work well together.
I interviewed at Optiver
Interview
spent about 1.5 months pretty much purely dedicated to preparing for interviews for all the pre-penultimate programs (Optiver, IMC, JS, SIG, Citadel, etc). I used these resources:
Green book (Really good starter but I got bored of it after a few weeks)
EverythingQuant (Went through literally every single interview prep question, went through the interview guides, and completed the probability course just to make sure I covered all bases)
Briefly read through this guide
Watched coding Jesus in my spare time (not sure if this helped directly lmao but he’s a great creator and very informative)
Mental math test, beat the odds, online puzzle like games etc online, brain teasers during physical interview and a behavioral interview where they want to assess how competitive and assertive you are.
OA was weird and hard. there was only three sections (i think) this year compared to 5 last year. questions are weird and I don't know how they can judge your ability base on that.