squarepoint junior discretionary trader technical phone interview experience

3月份网上申请的junior discretionary trader，然后5月份收到recruiter的邮件说要安排一面（一小时，说是math，stats，problem solving, coding，还给了hackerrank link)。

面试的时候先让我简单介绍自己的背景，然后就问什么是delta，gamma，is gamma positive or negative/increasing or decreasing for calls and puts if the underlying price increases. If a call option has a delta and gamma of 1, and the underlying increases by 10, what is the delta/gamma pnl? 因为邮件里面没说会考finance的题，所以没有充分的准备然后答的也不太好。我不太懂什么事delta/gamma pnl, 所以花了30分钟绕了一大圈也没答上，最后告诉我正确答案。然后就问了我用什么indicator炒股票，我说...

3月份网上申请的junior discretionary trader，然后5月份收到recruiter的邮件说要安排一面（一小时，说是math，stats，problem solving, coding，还给了hackerrank link)。

面试的时候先让我简单介绍自己的背景，然后就问什么是delta，gamma，is gamma positive or negative/increasing or decreasing for calls and puts if the underlying price increases. If a call option has a delta and gamma of 1, and the underlying increases by 10, what is the delta/gamma pnl? 因为邮件里面没说会考finance的题，所以没有充分的准备然后答的也不太好。我不太懂什么事delta/gamma pnl, 所以花了30分钟绕了一大圈也没答上，最后告诉我正确答案。然后就问了我用什么indicator炒股票，我说了EMA，让我在hackerrank 用pandas code这个EMA indicator。我一开始说要用ewm function, 问了他能不能看documentation，他说不能但是可以问他，所以就让他告诉我syntax。To check if the short term EMA is above/less than the long term EMA, I originally wanted to use a for loop, 然后他说不让用for loops，我说要用min/max, he said is there any way to do it without using min/max? 想了一下，决定take the difference of the two indicators and check when it's greater than 0. Then I asked is there a function in pandas to check the indices where an array switch signs, he says "I'm asking you"，感觉他在故意刁难我。我用了几分钟想怎么不用Max/min做这个，但是时间差不多了，没写完就问了最后一个数学问题。一个n-sided polygon，如果要connect all diagonals，有多少lines （其实就是一个complete graph有多少lines）。一开始想着用比较笨的办法算 (you can connect n-3 lines for the first two vertices, then n-4, etc.)，感觉这个方法不太对但是当时有点懵，想着先说一下main idea面试官可能会给我一些提示。结果这玩意儿在草稿纸上瞎画东西，也不吭声，没有任何时候feedback。然后我就继续算，最后到时间了就告诉我了正确答案n*(n-3)/2 (first overcount, then divide by 2)。

面试之前在地里和reddit上看过很多人说要避开这家破法国公司，应为他们给的工资很低，然后如果不是法国人就歧视你。包括有很多人面经也说过法国人没有素质，很傲慢。自己安排完面试在网上搜了面试官的名字后发现他是法国人就觉得可能不太好搞，但是这个面试官是在NYC的office，也想着不应该带着偏见去对待别人。结果整个面试过程中这法国人就像别人说的一摸样，说话的语气很傲慢，感觉心不在焉。然后做coding和最后的数学题的时候明显表现一副 I don't care 的态度，非常喜欢装笔。我说一下我的思路他不会有任何反应，甚至问他问题也不回答。直到我有点烦了就直接问他 "did you hear me?" 他才说话。所以其实对法国人的刻板印象真的是挺正确的，我原本还想着可能不是所有法国人都怎么没教养，事实也证明了我的想法是错误的。他们不会太明显对你很rude, 最后客套话还是说了什么good to talk to you today, have a good day, etc. 最后问我有没有question，我已经知道他不想让我过，所以就只接说了no，然后就结速了。过了几天毫不意外的发了拒信。第一次碰到法国人当面试官也算是亲眼目睹这帮人是什么德行，建议大家不要用对正常人的态度去对法国人，应为它们不配。

最后还是建议大家如果想用这家公司来练练面试时候怎么保持清醒的思路或者最坏的情况下怎么跟面试官communicate可以申请一下当作mock interview，如果想加入这家公司就算了，他们给的pay很低。我认识一个人在这家公司也准备跳槽了，说没有promotion。以下是square point 别人遇到过其他的Junior discretionary 面试题：

1) Implement the square root function in python without using the sqrt function and get the answer within a given precision value (review Newton's method)

2) A lot of questions about Linear regression (OLS). I didn't revise this at all since 2 years ago so got the clap here

3) Probability question using CLT and LLN

Squarepoint 1st phone (trader):

1) You have a 3 gallon and a 5 gallon jug. How would you obtain 4 gallons?

2) Three participants are randomly given hats colored either white or black. They are then placed in a room. Each person can see the other person's hat but not their own. Each participant is then asked the color of the hat they're wearing (simultaneosly). They can choose to answer or not. If atleast one person guesses their hat correctly, the participants win a prize. But if even one person guesses wrong, they all lose. What is the optimal strategy that the participants can devise to maximize their chances of winning?

3) Some questions about futures pricing -- what impacts the price of a futures contract? How would you price a future on a given stock? What is the difference between a futures contract and a forward contract? How/when do the prices differ?

4) Describe the volatility skew in an options chain, how/when does it occur?