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DE Shaw Software Developer Interview Questions, Process, and Tips

Updated 18 Jul 2024

Top DE Shaw Software Developer Interview Questions and Answers

  • Q1. Tower Building Problem Statement Given an array 'ARR' of 'N' cubes, you need to construct towers such that each cube can either be placed on top of an existing tower or ...read more
  • Q2. Rabbit Jumping Problem Consider 'n' carrots numbered from 1 to 'n' and 'k' rabbits. Each rabbit jumps to carrots only at multiples of its respective jumping factor A j ( ...read more
  • Q3. Coin Game Problem Statement Wong wants to borrow money from Dr. Strange, who insists Wong must win a coin game first. The game involves two players taking turns to remov ...read more
View all 76 questions

DE Shaw Software Developer Interview Experiences

15 interviews found

Interview experience
5
Excellent
Difficulty level
-
Process Duration
-
Result
-
Round 1 - Technical 

(2 Questions)

  • Q1. Burn A Node in a Binary Tree
  • Ans. 

    To burn a node in a binary tree, we mark the node as burned and then recursively burn its left and right children.

    • Mark the current node as burned

    • Recursively burn the left child

    • Recursively burn the right child

  • Answered by AI
  • Q2. In depth questions on current projects

Skills evaluated in this interview

Interview experience
3
Average
Difficulty level
Hard
Process Duration
Less than 2 weeks
Result
Not Selected

I applied via Newspaper Ad and was interviewed in Jun 2024. There was 1 interview round.

Round 1 - Coding Test 

Duration 2hr , DSA all topics , Leetcode

Interview Preparation Tips

Topics to prepare for DE Shaw Software Developer interview:
  • DP
  • Graph
Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Become Skillfull

Software Developer Interview Questions Asked at Other Companies

asked in Amazon
Q1. Maximum Subarray Sum Problem Statement Given an array of integers ... read more
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Q3. Merge Two Sorted Arrays Problem Statement Given two sorted intege ... read more
asked in Cognizant
Q4. Nth Fibonacci Number Problem Statement Calculate the Nth term in ... read more
Q5. Find Duplicate in Array Problem Statement You are provided with a ... read more
Interview experience
5
Excellent
Difficulty level
-
Process Duration
-
Result
-
Round 1 - Technical 

(1 Question)

  • Q1. Disjoint Set Question
Interview experience
4
Good
Difficulty level
Moderate
Process Duration
2-4 weeks
Result
Not Selected

I applied via Campus Placement and was interviewed in Feb 2023. There were 3 interview rounds.

Round 1 - Resume Shortlist 
Pro Tip by AmbitionBox:
Keep your resume crisp and to the point. A recruiter looks at your resume for an average of 6 seconds, make sure to leave the best impression.
View all Resume tips
Round 2 - Coding Test 

4 interview question

Round 3 - Technical 

(3 Questions)

  • Q1. Task schedular from leetcode second is : N piles of coins diffrent length you can add or remove one coin from a pile adding cost c1 and removing cost c2 find minimum cost such that height of n piles equal...
  • Ans. 

    Find minimum cost to make heights of N piles of coins equal by adding or removing one coin from a pile with different costs.

    • Use dynamic programming to keep track of the minimum cost for each pile height.

    • Consider the cost of adding and removing coins from each pile.

    • Iterate through all possible combinations of adding and removing coins to find the minimum cost.

  • Answered by AI
  • Q2. Question on polymorphism overloading overriding
  • Q3. C++ fundamentals

Interview Preparation Tips

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - focus on DSA and do practice question from leetcode
also read about oops ans os

Skills evaluated in this interview

DE Shaw interview questions for designations

 Software Developer Intern

 (10)

 Software Developer 1

 (1)

 Software Engineer

 (3)

 Software Engineer Intern

 (1)

 Senior Software Engineer

 (1)

 Software Engineering Manager

 (1)

 Software Development Engineer II

 (1)

 Technology Developer

 (1)

I was interviewed in Mar 2022.

Round 1 - Coding Test 

(3 Questions)

Round duration - 120 Minutes
Round difficulty - Hard

Online Test Platform - HackerRank
Test Access Window – between 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Online Test Pattern –

Total Duration of Test – 120 mins
Total No. of Sections - 5
Section 1 – One Coding Question - Easy difficulty (20 mins)
Section 2 – One Coding Question - Medium difficulty (30 mins)
Section 3 – One Coding Question - Medium difficulty (30 mins)
Section 4 - Technical MCQs - 10 questions (20 mins)
Section 5 - Aptitude MCQs - 10 questions (20 mins)
Programming Sections (1, 2 and 3): This will have 3 coding questions with a time limit of 80 minutes. It is mandatory for you to attempt the 1st coding question before moving to the second question and third. You cannot revisit question/section once you proceed ahead
MCQ Sections (4 and 5): This will have 10 technical and 10 aptitude questions, with a time limit of 20 minutes each. Each correct answer will carry 2 marks and wrong answer will carry negative 0.5
Technical questions will cover Data structures & algorithms, Operating systems, Database systems, SQL and Networks.
Aptitude questions will cover Quantitative Aptitude, Problem solving and Logical & verbal Reasoning

  • Q1. 

    Tower Building Problem Statement

    Given an array 'ARR' of 'N' cubes, you need to construct towers such that each cube can either be placed on top of an existing tower or start a new one. The restriction is...

  • Ans. 

    The task is to determine the minimum number of towers needed to stack cubes in a specific order.

    • Iterate through the array of cubes and maintain a stack to keep track of towers.

    • For each cube, check if it can be placed on an existing tower or start a new one.

    • Update the stack based on the cube's size and count the number of towers needed.

    • Return the minimum number of towers required.

    • Example: For input N = 3, ARR = [3, 2, 1

  • Answered by AI
  • Q2. 

    Minimum Removals Problem Statement

    Given an array ARR of size N and an integer K, determine the minimum number of elements that must be removed from the array so that the difference between the maximum an...

  • Ans. 

    The problem involves finding the minimum number of elements to remove from an array so that the difference between the maximum and minimum element is less than or equal to a given value.

    • Iterate through the array and keep track of the minimum and maximum elements.

    • Calculate the difference between the maximum and minimum elements.

    • If the difference is greater than the given value, increment the count of elements to remove.

    • ...

  • Answered by AI
  • Q3. 

    Conquering the Best Kingdom Problem Statement

    Aragorn, an influential ruler, aspires to expand his power by conquering more kingdoms. There are 'N' kingdoms numbered from 0 to N-1, forming a tree structur...

  • Ans. 

    Given a tree structure of kingdoms, determine if it's possible to conquer more kingdoms than Aragorn by strategically choosing the starting kingdom.

    • Start at the kingdom adjacent to Aragorn's initial kingdom

    • Choose the kingdom that allows you to capture the most number of kingdoms in subsequent turns

    • Consider the tree structure to plan your conquest strategically

  • Answered by AI
Round 2 - Video Call 

(1 Question)

Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

They called and asked me to choose a date and time I would be free in the upcoming week for my interview.
I chose 10th March 5 pm. 

Interviewer was pretty friendly. Started with some resume based questions. Asked me OS, DBMS and JAVA based questions. A coding question was asked to code. Asked me OOPS related questions too.

  • Q1. 

    K Most Frequent Elements Problem Statement

    Given an integer array ARR and an integer K, identify the K most frequent elements within ARR. Return these elements sorted in ascending order.

    Example:

    Input:
    ...
  • Ans. 

    Identify K most frequent elements in an array and return them sorted in ascending order.

    • Use a hashmap to store the frequency of each element in the array.

    • Sort the elements based on their frequency in descending order.

    • Return the first K elements from the sorted list.

  • Answered by AI

Interview Preparation Tips

Professional and academic backgroundI applied for the job as SDE - 1 in HyderabadEligibility criteriaAbove 7 CGPA for CSE students, above 8 for others.DE Shaw India interview preparation:Topics to prepare for the interview - DSA, OS, DBMS, CN, Java, Hashing, Aptitude, Output questionsTime required to prepare for the interview - 1 MonthInterview preparation tips for other job seekers

Tip 1 : Learn the OS and DBMS fundamentals.
Tip 2 : Practice a wide variety of questions on Leetcode
Tip 3 : Do practice aptitude. It will help in OA

Application resume tips for other job seekers

Tip 1 : Use OverLeaf format to make resume
Tip 2 : Do not mention any skill you aren't comfortable with. A lot of the times they ask you questions based on what is written in your resume.

Final outcome of the interviewRejected

Skills evaluated in this interview

Get interview-ready with Top DE Shaw Interview Questions

I was interviewed in Aug 2021.

Round 1 - Coding Test 

(3 Questions)

Round duration - 90 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

This round had 3 coding questions. The first two were of moderate level and the third one was a bit hard and was related to Dynamic Programming.

  • Q1. 

    Maximum Number from Linked List Problem Statement

    Given a linked list where each node contains a single digit, your task is to construct the largest possible number using these digits.

    Objective:

    Print ...

  • Ans. 

    To find the maximum number that can be formed using the digits present in a linked list.

    • Traverse the linked list and store the digits in an array

    • Sort the array in descending order

    • Concatenate the sorted array elements to form the maximum number

  • Answered by AI
  • Q2. 

    Chocolate Distribution Problem

    You are given an array/list CHOCOLATES of size 'N', where each element represents the number of chocolates in a packet. Your task is to distribute these chocolates among 'M'...

  • Ans. 

    Distribute chocolates among students to minimize difference between largest and smallest packets.

    • Sort the array of chocolates packets.

    • Use sliding window technique to find the minimum difference between largest and smallest packets distributed to students.

    • Return the minimum difference as the output.

  • Answered by AI
  • Q3. 

    LCS of Three Strings Problem Statement

    Given three strings A, B, and C, determine the length of the longest common subsequence present in all three strings.

    Explanation:

    A subsequence is derived by dele...

  • Ans. 

    Find the length of the longest common subsequence among three strings.

    • Use dynamic programming to solve this problem efficiently.

    • Create a 3D array to store the lengths of common subsequences.

    • Iterate through the strings to fill the array and find the longest common subsequence length.

  • Answered by AI
Round 2 - Video Call 

(4 Questions)

Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

This round had 2 questions of DS/Algo to solve under 60 minutes and 2 questions related to Operating Systems.

  • Q1. 

    Buy and Sell Stock Problem Statement

    Imagine you are Harshad Mehta's friend, and you have been given the stock prices of a particular company for the next 'N' days. You can perform up to two buy-and-sell ...

  • Ans. 

    The task is to determine the maximum profit that can be achieved by performing up to two buy-and-sell transactions on a given set of stock prices.

    • Iterate through the array of stock prices and calculate the maximum profit that can be achieved by buying and selling at different points.

    • Keep track of the maximum profit after the first transaction and the maximum profit overall by considering all possible combinations of bu...

  • Answered by AI
  • Q2. 

    Count Smaller People on Right

    You are provided with an array called HEIGHT that contains the heights of 'N' people standing in a queue. For each person in the array, compute the number of individuals on t...

  • Ans. 

    Count the number of people to the right with a smaller height for each person in a queue.

    • Iterate through the array from right to left and maintain a sorted list of heights encountered so far.

    • Use binary search to find the position where the current height should be inserted in the sorted list.

    • The count of smaller people to the right for each person can be calculated based on the index of insertion in the sorted list.

  • Answered by AI
  • Q3. Can you define processes and threads in operating systems?
  • Ans. 

    Processes are instances of programs in execution, while threads are smaller units within a process that can execute independently.

    • Processes are independent entities that contain program code, data, and resources.

    • Threads are lightweight units within a process that share the same resources but can execute independently.

    • Processes have their own memory space, while threads share the same memory space.

    • Processes communicate ...

  • Answered by AI
  • Q4. What are the different types of semaphores?
  • Ans. 

    Different types of semaphores include binary semaphores, counting semaphores, and mutex semaphores.

    • Binary semaphores: Can only have two states - 0 or 1. Used for mutual exclusion.

    • Counting semaphores: Can have multiple states. Used for resource allocation and synchronization.

    • Mutex semaphores: Similar to binary semaphores but with additional features like priority inheritance and deletion safety.

  • Answered by AI
Round 3 - Video Call 

(3 Questions)

Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

This round had 3 coding questions in which I first had to explain my approach with proper complexity analysis and then code up the solution. I found the first problem to be a bit on the harder side compared to the rest of the 2 problems.

  • Q1. 

    Longest Increasing Path in a 2D Matrix Problem Statement

    Given a matrix of non-negative integers of size 'N x M', where 'N' and 'M' denote the number of rows and columns respectively, find the length of t...

  • Ans. 

    Find the length of the longest increasing path in a 2D matrix by moving in four directions.

    • Use dynamic programming to keep track of the longest increasing path starting from each cell.

    • Explore all four directions from each cell and recursively find the longest increasing path.

    • Optimize the solution by storing the length of the longest increasing path starting from each cell.

  • Answered by AI
  • Q2. 

    Gas Station Tour Problem

    You are presented with a circular track consisting of several petrol pumps. Each petrol pump is indexed from 0 to N-1 and offers certain attributes:

    • The quantity of petrol ava...
  • Ans. 

    Find the first petrol pump from which a truck can start its journey and complete the circle.

    • Iterate through each petrol pump and calculate the remaining petrol after reaching the next pump.

    • If the remaining petrol is negative at any point, reset the starting point to the next pump.

    • If the total remaining petrol at the end is non-negative, return the starting point as the answer.

  • Answered by AI
  • Q3. 

    Rabbit Jumping Problem

    Consider 'n' carrots numbered from 1 to 'n' and 'k' rabbits. Each rabbit jumps to carrots only at multiples of its respective jumping factor Aj (i.e., Aj, 2Aj, 3Aj, ...), for all ra...

  • Ans. 

    Calculate uneaten carrots after rabbits jump on multiples of their jumping factors.

    • Iterate through each carrot and check if it is divisible by any rabbit's jumping factor

    • Keep track of uneaten carrots and return the count at the end

    • Consider using a set to store eaten carrots for efficient lookup

  • Answered by AI

Interview Preparation Tips

Eligibility criteriaAbove 7 CGPADE Shaw India interview preparation:Topics to prepare for the interview - Data Structures, Algorithms, System Design, Aptitude, OOPSTime required to prepare for the interview - 5 MonthsInterview preparation tips for other job seekers

Tip 1 : Must do Previously asked Interview as well as Online Test Questions.
Tip 2 : Go through all the previous interview experiences from Codestudio and Leetcode.
Tip 3 : Do at-least 2 good projects and you must know every bit of them.

Application resume tips for other job seekers

Tip 1 : Have at-least 2 good projects explained in short with all important points covered.
Tip 2 : Every skill must be mentioned.
Tip 3 : Focus on skills, projects and experiences more.

Final outcome of the interviewSelected

Skills evaluated in this interview

I was interviewed in Jul 2021.

Round 1 - Coding Test 

(3 Questions)

Round duration - 90 Minutes
Round difficulty - Hard

This round had 3 coding questions and the difficulty of the questions ranged from Moderate to Hard level.

  • Q1. 

    Jump Game Problem Statement

    You are given a list of points, and currently at point 0, your task is to determine if you can reach the last point N. At each point i, you can jump at most JUMP[i] length forw...

  • Ans. 

    The task is to determine if it is possible to reach the last point in a list of points by jumping a certain distance at each point.

    • Iterate through the list of points and check if it is possible to reach the last point by jumping the maximum distance at each point.

    • Keep track of the farthest point that can be reached from the current point.

    • If the farthest point that can be reached is greater than or equal to the last poi

  • Answered by AI
  • Q2. 

    Problem Statement: Sibling Nodes

    You are provided with a Binary Tree consisting of 'N' nodes, where each node holds an integer value. Your objective is to identify and list all nodes that do not possess a...

  • Ans. 

    Identify and list nodes in a Binary Tree without siblings.

    • Traverse the Binary Tree in level order and keep track of nodes without siblings.

    • Check if each node has a sibling by comparing with its parent's other child.

    • Output the values of nodes without siblings in ascending order.

  • Answered by AI
  • Q3. 

    Minimum Steps for a Knight to Reach Target

    Given a square chessboard of size 'N x N', determine the minimum number of moves a Knight requires to reach a specified target position from its initial position...

  • Ans. 

    Calculate the minimum number of moves a Knight requires to reach a specified target position on a chessboard.

    • Implement a function that calculates the minimum number of moves for a Knight to reach the target position on an NxN chessboard.

    • Consider the possible movements of a Knight on a chessboard (2 squares in one direction and 1 square in a perpendicular direction).

    • Use breadth-first search (BFS) algorithm to find the s...

  • Answered by AI
Round 2 - Video Call 

(4 Questions)

Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

This round went for about 50-60 minutes where I had to code two questions related to DSA after discussing their approaches and time and space complexities and then I was asked some questions revolving around OOPS. The interviewer was quite freindly and helped me at some places where I was facing some difficulties.

  • Q1. 

    Evaluate Reverse Polish Notation Problem Statement

    You are provided with an arithmetic expression in Reverse Polish Notation represented as an array EXP. Your task is to calculate the value of this expres...

  • Ans. 

    Evaluate arithmetic expression in Reverse Polish Notation using stack.

    • Use a stack to keep track of operands and perform operations when encountering an operator.

    • Iterate through the array of strings and push operands onto the stack, perform operation when an operator is encountered.

    • Handle division using modular division to avoid floating point precision issues.

    • Return the final result modulo 10^9 + 7 as specified in the

  • Answered by AI
  • Q2. 

    LCA in a Binary Search Tree

    You are given a binary search tree (BST) containing N nodes. Additionally, you have references to two nodes, P and Q, within this BST.

    Your task is to determine the Lowest Com...

  • Ans. 

    Find the Lowest Common Ancestor (LCA) of two nodes in a Binary Search Tree (BST).

    • Traverse the BST from the root node to find the LCA of nodes P and Q.

    • Compare the values of nodes P and Q with the current node's value to determine the LCA.

    • If both nodes are on the same side of the current node, move to that side; otherwise, the current node is the LCA.

    • Handle cases where one node is the ancestor of the other node.

    • Example: ...

  • Answered by AI
  • Q3. What is the Diamond Problem in C++ and how can it be resolved?
  • Ans. 

    Diamond Problem is a common issue in multiple inheritance in C++ where a class inherits from two classes that have a common base class.

    • Diamond Problem occurs when a class inherits from two classes that have a common base class, leading to ambiguity in accessing members.

    • It can be resolved in C++ using virtual inheritance, where the common base class is inherited virtually to avoid duplicate copies of base class members.

    • ...

  • Answered by AI
  • Q4. What is meant by garbage collection in the context of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)?
  • Ans. 

    Garbage collection in OOP refers to automatic memory management by deallocating memory of objects no longer in use.

    • Garbage collection is a process of automatically reclaiming memory occupied by objects that are no longer in use.

    • It helps prevent memory leaks and ensures efficient memory usage.

    • Languages like Java, C#, and Python have built-in garbage collection mechanisms.

    • Garbage collection can be done using different al...

  • Answered by AI
Round 3 - Video Call 

(2 Questions)

Round duration - 60 Minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

This round consisted of two coding problems which involved proper coding it and explaining each and every aspect and showing the dry run over a few test cases was also necessary.

  • Q1. 

    Phone Directory Search Directory

    You are given a list/array of strings representing the contacts in a phone directory. The task is to perform a search based on a query string 'str' and return all contacts...

  • Ans. 

    Implement a phone directory search feature to suggest contacts based on a given prefix query string.

    • Iterate through the contact list to find contacts with the prefix matching the query string.

    • Display suggestions as the user types each character of the query.

    • Handle cases where no suggestions are found for a particular prefix by printing 'No suggestions found'.

  • Answered by AI
  • Q2. 

    Bottom View of Binary Tree

    Given a binary tree, determine and return its bottom view when viewed from left to right. Assume that each child of a node is positioned at a 45-degree angle from its parent.

    N...

  • Ans. 

    Return the bottom view of a binary tree when viewed from left to right.

    • Traverse the tree in level order and keep track of horizontal distance and depth of each node

    • For each horizontal distance, update the node in the map if it is deeper than the current node

    • Return the values of the map in sorted order of horizontal distance

  • Answered by AI

Interview Preparation Tips

Eligibility criteriaAbove 7 CGPADE Shaw India interview preparation:Topics to prepare for the interview - Data Structures, Algorithms, System Design, Aptitude, OOPSTime required to prepare for the interview - 5 MonthsInterview preparation tips for other job seekers

Tip 1 : Must do Previously asked Interview as well as Online Test Questions.
Tip 2 : Go through all the previous interview experiences from Codestudio and Leetcode.
Tip 3 : Do at-least 2 good projects and you must know every bit of them.

Application resume tips for other job seekers

Tip 1 : Have at-least 2 good projects explained in short with all important points covered.
Tip 2 : Every skill must be mentioned.
Tip 3 : Focus on skills, projects and experiences more.

Final outcome of the interviewSelected

Skills evaluated in this interview

I was interviewed in Nov 2020.

Round 1 - Coding Test 

(2 Questions)

Round duration - 95 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

This round was conducted in Hackerrank portal for a total duration of 95 minutes and was divided into 4 sections.

1st Section : Aptitude Section : 14 questions , 28 minutes
2nd Section : Technical Section : 12 questions , 17 minutes
3rd Section :1 coding Questions : 20 minutes+30 minutes

This Round was Conducted on Hackerrank (Webcam Enabled).

  • Q1. 

    Coin Game Problem Statement

    Wong wants to borrow money from Dr. Strange, who insists Wong must win a coin game first. The game involves two players taking turns to remove one coin from either end of a row...

  • Ans. 

    Given an array of coin values, determine the maximum value Wong can obtain by playing a coin game against Dr. Strange.

    • Wong plays first and can remove one coin from either end of the array on each turn.

    • The game ends when no coins are left, and the player with the highest total value wins.

    • Consider different scenarios like having an odd or even number of coins in the array.

  • Answered by AI
  • Q2. 

    Find Magic Index in Sorted Array

    Given a sorted array A consisting of N integers, your task is to find the magic index in the given array, where the magic index is defined as an index i such that A[i] = i...

  • Ans. 

    Find the magic index in a sorted array where A[i] = i.

    • Use binary search to efficiently find the magic index in the sorted array.

    • Check the middle element of the array and compare it with its index to determine the direction to search.

    • Repeat the process on the left or right half of the array until the magic index is found or no more elements to search.

  • Answered by AI
Round 2 - Face to Face 

(2 Questions)

Round duration - 120 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

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.
The Interviewers were helpful and didn't hesitate in giving hints. 
Timing - 10:00 A.M to 12:00 P.M

  • Q1. 

    Minimum Number of Taps to Water the Garden

    Given a garden that extends along a one-dimensional x-axis from point 0 to point N, your task is to determine the minimum number of taps needed to water the enti...

  • Ans. 

    Find the minimum number of taps needed to water the entire garden using given tap ranges.

    • Iterate over taps and update the farthest point each tap can reach.

    • Use a greedy approach to select the tap that can water the farthest point.

    • If a tap can't water any point, return -1.

    • Example: For ranges = [3, 4, 1, 1, 0, 0], tap at position 1 can water the entire garden.

  • Answered by AI
  • Q2. 

    Money Saving in Bank Problem

    Harshit wants to save up money for his first car by depositing money daily in the Ninja bank with a specific increment strategy.

    Starting with 1 rupee on the first Monday, th...

  • Ans. 

    Calculate the total money accumulated by Harshit in Ninja bank after N days with a specific increment strategy.

    • Start with 1 rupee on the first Monday and increase by 1 rupee each day from Tuesday to Sunday.

    • Each new Monday starts with an additional rupee more than the previous Monday's deposit.

    • Calculate the total amount of money accumulated after N days for each test case.

    • Example: For N = 2, total amount is 3 rupees; fo

  • Answered by AI
Round 3 - Face to Face 

(2 Questions)

Round duration - 120 minutes
Round difficulty - Hard

A lot of Variants based on Constraints were asked in this Round. They will ask you to write the final code for every question before Submitting it(run all test cases) so you won’t get any hints after running test cases in the IDE. ( So don’t Submit your code before dry running it on a lot of Test Cases on pen & paper , they allow to use pen & blank paper at the time of Interviews) .The Interviewers tried to trick in case of time complexities even if you gave the best one. So try to be confident.

  • Q1. 

    Buy and Sell Stock Problem Statement

    Imagine you are Harshad Mehta's friend, and you have been given the stock prices of a particular company for the next 'N' days. You can perform up to two buy-and-sell ...

  • Ans. 

    The task is to determine the maximum profit that can be achieved by performing up to two buy-and-sell transactions on a given set of stock prices.

    • Iterate through the array of stock prices and calculate the maximum profit that can be achieved by buying and selling at different points.

    • Keep track of the maximum profit after the first transaction and the maximum profit after the second transaction.

    • Return the sum of these t...

  • Answered by AI
  • Q2. 

    Stock Investment Problem Statement

    You are given the prices of a particular stock over 'N' consecutive days. Your task is to find the maximum profit that can be obtained by completing at most two transact...

  • Ans. 

    Find the maximum profit that can be obtained by completing at most two transactions of buying and selling a stock.

    • Iterate through the array of stock prices and calculate the maximum profit that can be obtained by completing at most two transactions.

    • Keep track of the maximum profit that can be obtained by selling the stock on each day after buying it on a previous day.

    • Consider all possible combinations of two transactio...

  • Answered by AI
Round 4 - HR 

(1 Question)

Round duration - 30 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

This was a Telephonic Round (Audio Call). The HR was friendly and asked basic questions.
The timing was 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM.

  • Q1. 

    Rabbit Jumping Problem

    Consider 'n' carrots numbered from 1 to 'n' and 'k' rabbits. Each rabbit jumps to carrots only at multiples of its respective jumping factor Aj (i.e., Aj, 2Aj, 3Aj, ...), for all ra...

  • Ans. 

    Calculate uneaten carrots by rabbits with specific jumping factors.

    • Iterate through each carrot and check if any rabbit jumps on it.

    • Use the jumping factors to determine which carrots will be eaten.

    • Subtract the eaten carrots from the total to get the uneaten carrots.

  • Answered by AI

Interview Preparation Tips

Professional and academic backgroundI applied for the job as SDE - 1 in HyderabadEligibility criteriaAbove 8.5 CGPA ( Only CSE, IT, ECE - both UG and PG )DE Shaw India interview preparation:Topics to prepare for the interview - Dynamic Programming, OOPS, Computer Networks, Computer System Architecture, Operating System, Data Structures, PointersTime required to prepare for the interview - 4 monthsInterview preparation tips for other job seekers

Tip 1 : Make sure that you are thorough with CS concepts beforehand.
Tip 2 : Even when you are explaining the approach to a question, try to parallelly think about how you would code it.
Tip 3 : Read the previous interview experiences. It would give a fair idea of the kind of questions one should expect.
Tip 4 : For a company like DE Shaw, practicing medium and hard difficulty level coding questions would be the way to go.
Tip 5 : Practice atleast 200 questions from coding platforms like CodeZen, LeetCode, Interviewbit as they contain common interview questions.

Application resume tips for other job seekers

Tip 1 : Mention atleast 1 project and past work experience as it sets good impression.
Tip 2 : Keep your resume up to date for the role you are applying.
Tip 3 : Try to keep your resume of 1 Page.

Final outcome of the interviewSelected

Skills evaluated in this interview

I was interviewed before Apr 2021.

Round 1 - Face to Face 

(4 Questions)

Round duration - 45 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Technical Interview round with questions on Core Subjects mainly.

  • Q1. What is the difference between C and C++?
  • Ans. 

    C is a procedural programming language while C++ is an object-oriented programming language with features like classes and inheritance.

    • C is a procedural programming language, while C++ is a multi-paradigm language with support for object-oriented programming.

    • C does not support classes and objects, while C++ does.

    • C uses structures for data organization, while C++ uses classes for data organization.

    • C does not have featur...

  • Answered by AI
  • Q2. What is a virtual function?
  • Ans. 

    A virtual function is a function in a base class that is declared using the keyword 'virtual' and can be overridden by a function with the same signature in a derived class.

    • Virtual functions allow for dynamic polymorphism in object-oriented programming.

    • They are used to achieve runtime binding and enable the implementation of the function to be determined during runtime.

    • Example: virtual void display() = 0; in a base cla...

  • Answered by AI
  • Q3. What is inheritance in object-oriented programming?
  • Ans. 

    Inheritance is a concept in object-oriented programming where a class inherits properties and behaviors from another class.

    • Allows for code reusability by creating a new class based on an existing class

    • Child class inherits attributes and methods of the parent class

    • Can have multiple levels of inheritance (e.g. grandparent, parent, child classes)

    • Example: class Dog extends Animal, where Dog inherits properties and methods

  • Answered by AI
  • Q4. What is the difference between a Default Constructor and a Copy Constructor in Object-Oriented Programming?
  • Ans. 

    Default Constructor is a constructor that is automatically called when an object is created without any arguments. Copy Constructor is used to create a new object as a copy of an existing object.

    • Default Constructor has no parameters, while Copy Constructor takes an object of the same class as a parameter.

    • Default Constructor initializes the object with default values, while Copy Constructor creates a new object with the...

  • Answered by AI
Round 2 - Face to Face 

(5 Questions)

Round duration - 40 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

Technical Interview round with questions on Core Subjects mainly.

  • Q1. What are the types of access modifiers in C++?
  • Ans. 

    The types of access modifiers in C++ are public, private, and protected.

    • Public: accessible from outside the class

    • Private: only accessible within the class

    • Protected: accessible within the class and its subclasses

  • Answered by AI
  • Q2. What is the difference between DDL (Data Definition Language) and DML (Data Manipulation Language)?
  • Ans. 

    DDL is used to define the structure of database objects, while DML is used to manipulate data within those objects.

    • DDL is used to create, modify, and delete database objects like tables, indexes, etc.

    • DML is used to insert, update, delete, and retrieve data from database tables.

    • DDL statements include CREATE, ALTER, DROP, TRUNCATE, etc.

    • DML statements include INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, SELECT, etc.

  • Answered by AI
  • Q3. What are the key differences between a Primary Key and a Unique Key in a database management system?
  • Ans. 

    Primary Key uniquely identifies each record in a table, while Unique Key ensures that all values in a column are distinct.

    • Primary Key does not allow NULL values, while Unique Key allows one NULL value.

    • A table can have only one Primary Key, but multiple Unique Keys.

    • Primary Key is automatically indexed, while Unique Key may or may not be indexed.

    • Primary Key is used to establish relationships between tables, while Unique ...

  • Answered by AI
  • Q4. What is the difference between DBMS and RDBMS?
  • Ans. 

    DBMS is a software system that manages databases, while RDBMS is a type of DBMS that stores data in a structured format using tables.

    • DBMS stands for Database Management System, which is a software system that allows users to interact with a database.

    • RDBMS stands for Relational Database Management System, which is a type of DBMS that stores data in a structured format using tables with rows and columns.

    • RDBMS uses Struct...

  • Answered by AI
  • Q5. What are the objectives of normalization in database management systems?
  • Ans. 

    Normalization in database management systems aims to reduce data redundancy, improve data integrity, and optimize database performance.

    • Eliminate data redundancy by breaking down data into smaller tables

    • Reduce update anomalies by ensuring data is stored in a logical and consistent manner

    • Improve data integrity by enforcing referential integrity constraints

    • Optimize database performance by reducing the amount of redundant

  • Answered by AI
Round 3 - HR 

Round duration - 30 minutes
Round difficulty - Easy

HR round with typical behavioral problems.

Interview Preparation Tips

Eligibility criteriaCS/IT/ECE And CGPA min of 7.0[CSE]. For ECE = 7.5DE Shaw India interview preparation:Topics to prepare for the interview - Data Structures, Algorithms, System Design, Aptitude, OOPSTime required to prepare for the interview - 5 monthsInterview preparation tips for other job seekers

Tip 1 : Must do Previously asked Interview as well as Online Test Questions.
Tip 2 : Go through all the previous interview experiences from Codestudio and Leetcode.
Tip 3 : Do at-least 2 good projects and you must know every bit of them.

Application resume tips for other job seekers

Tip 1 : Have at-least 2 good projects explained in short with all important points covered.
Tip 2 : Every skill must be mentioned.
Tip 3 : Focus on skills, projects and experiences more.

Final outcome of the interviewSelected

Skills evaluated in this interview

I was interviewed before Apr 2021.

Round 1 - Face to Face 

(6 Questions)

Round duration - 60 minutes
Round difficulty - Medium

Started with the discussion why do you want to join DE shaw. Since prior to my current company, I was working with a finance based company so they asked why do you want to come back to finance base company. So they asked my about debentures, bonds, mortgages and other financial jargons.
Then they asked questions related to DSA, OS etc.

  • Q1. 

    Find Triplets with Given Sum Problem Statement

    Given an array ARR consisting of N integers, your task is to identify all distinct triplets within the array that sum up to a given integer K.

    Explanation:

    ...
  • Ans. 

    The task is to find all distinct triplets in an array that sum up to a given integer.

    • Iterate through the array and use nested loops to find all possible triplets.

    • Use a set to store unique triplets and avoid duplicates.

    • Check if the sum of the triplet equals the target sum.

    • Return the list of valid triplets or -1 if no such triplet exists.

  • Answered by AI
  • Q2. 

    Minimum Number of Platforms Problem

    Your task is to determine the minimum number of platforms required at a railway station so that no train has to wait.

    Explanation:

    Given two arrays:

    • AT - represent...
  • Ans. 

    Determine the minimum number of platforms needed at a railway station so that no train has to wait.

    • Sort the arrival and departure times arrays in ascending order.

    • Initialize two pointers for arrival and departure times, and a variable to keep track of the maximum number of platforms needed.

    • Increment the platform count when a train arrives and decrement when a train departs.

    • Update the maximum platform count as needed.

    • Ret...

  • Answered by AI
  • Q3. What is the difference between internal fragmentation and external fragmentation in operating systems?
  • Ans. 

    Internal fragmentation occurs when memory is allocated in fixed-size blocks, leading to wasted space within a block. External fragmentation occurs when free memory is fragmented into small chunks, making it difficult to allocate contiguous blocks.

    • Internal fragmentation is caused by allocating fixed-size blocks of memory, leading to wasted space within a block.

    • External fragmentation occurs when free memory is fragmented...

  • Answered by AI
  • Q4. Write an SQL query to find the employee with the nth highest salary.
  • Ans. 

    SQL query to find the employee with the nth highest salary

    • Use the ORDER BY clause to sort salaries in descending order

    • Use the LIMIT clause to select the nth highest salary

    • Join the employee table with the salary table to get the employee details

  • Answered by AI
  • Q5. How is Java platform independent?
  • Ans. 

    Java is platform independent due to its bytecode and JVM.

    • Java code is compiled into bytecode, which can run on any platform with a Java Virtual Machine (JVM)

    • JVM acts as an intermediary between the Java code and the underlying platform, ensuring portability

    • Developers write code once and it can be executed on any platform that has a compatible JVM

    • Examples: Windows, macOS, Linux all can run Java programs without any chang

  • Answered by AI
  • Q6. What is the difference between an abstract class and an interface in Java?
  • Ans. 

    Abstract class can have both abstract and non-abstract methods, while interface can only have abstract methods.

    • Abstract class can have constructor, member variables, and methods with implementation.

    • Interface can only have abstract methods and constants.

    • A class can implement multiple interfaces but can only extend one abstract class.

    • Example: Abstract class - Animal with abstract method 'eat' and non-abstract method 'sle

  • Answered by AI

Interview Preparation Tips

Eligibility criteriaAbove 7 CGPADE Shaw India interview preparation:Topics to prepare for the interview - Data Structures, Algorithms, System Design, Aptitude, OOPSTime required to prepare for the interview - 5 monthsInterview preparation tips for other job seekers

Tip 1 : Must do Previously asked Interview as well as Online Test Questions.
Tip 2 : Go through all the previous interview experiences from Codestudio and Leetcode.
Tip 3 : Do at-least 2 good projects and you must know every bit of them.

Application resume tips for other job seekers

Tip 1 : Have at-least 2 good projects explained in short with all important points covered.
Tip 2 : Every skill must be mentioned.
Tip 3 : Focus on skills, projects and experiences more.

Final outcome of the interviewRejected

Skills evaluated in this interview

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DE Shaw Interview FAQs

How many rounds are there in DE Shaw Software Developer interview?
DE Shaw interview process usually has 1-2 rounds. The most common rounds in the DE Shaw interview process are Technical, Coding Test and Resume Shortlist.
How to prepare for DE Shaw Software Developer interview?
Go through your CV in detail and study all the technologies mentioned in your CV. Prepare at least two technologies or languages in depth if you are appearing for a technical interview at DE Shaw. The most common topics and skills that interviewers at DE Shaw expect are Administration Management, Analytical Chemistry, Computer Science, Direct Marketing and IT Infrastructure.
What are the top questions asked in DE Shaw Software Developer interview?

Some of the top questions asked at the DE Shaw Software Developer interview -

  1. Two cops and a robber are located on opposite corners of a cube and move along ...read more
  2. In some tournament 139 teams have participated. Tournament is knock out. what i...read more
  3. What is the difference between default and copy construct...read more

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DE Shaw Software Developer Interview Process

based on 4 interviews

2 Interview rounds

  • Coding Test Round
  • Video Call Round
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DE Shaw Software Developer Salary
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₹18 L/yr - ₹68 L/yr
440% more than the average Software Developer Salary in India
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DE Shaw Software Developer Reviews and Ratings

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2.8/5

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3.3

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3.1

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3.4

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3.1

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