Has anyone gone through SIG's quant research interview? I know they ask a lot of probability questions to the traders, but is the same for quants as well?

QuoteOriginally posted by: creditRiskyHas anyone gone through SIG's quant research interview? I know they ask a lot of probability questions to the traders, but is the same for quants as well?Why would it be different for a quant?

QuoteOriginally posted by: creditRiskyHas anyone gone through SIG's quant research interview? I know they ask a lot of probability questions to the traders, but is the same for quants as well?yes. for quants I would expect even more probability questions

a candidate who recently interviewed there gave me his list.basic probabilities questionsbrainteaser maths questionsC++ interpreting code and template questions

I interviewed in 2004, and have similar comments to what mj's candidate just said. Obviosuly the below may have changed since, but not too dramatically.In terms of basic probability we're talking along the lines of "If you roll a dice and get to roll again, getting $1 per spot, what's the fair price". They were set up by poker players so they love questions on game theory. There were also questions on a hypothetical problem posed by a trader e.g. "An NYSE stock always goes up in value when markets open depending on how well the CAC40 performs. How would you perform the analysis?".The key is the final interview - I'm not sure if you're looking at the same type of role I was, but mine was to be front office based. In final interview they want to see that you have evidence of strong people skills and working with people, if you will cope with being screamed at by traders (usually unjustifiably), being asked curve ball questions and 90 miles an hour and dealing with traders' mind games, where every little word you say is scrutinised and used to trip you up. Obviously this should be looked at as an opprtunity to see if you suit this kind of role, rather than thinking about how to "pass" the interview.

I went through the same process as mj's candidate in 2004, so obviously the process will be similar.The basic probability means questions like "If I throw a dice and can either throw again or take the first throw, and get paid in $ based on spots on the roll, what is the fair price?" and basic understanding of things like St Petersburg paradox, how it applies to credit risk etc. They love game theory as the company was set up by US poker champions. With C++ code you also need to show understanding of when to use inline functions, problems with #include functions etc.As the process moved on we talked about job related problems e.g. "A trader comes to you saying a French stock appears to moves up or down dramatically and in line with NASDAQ when US markets open. How do you analyse this so the trader can look at exploiting this for profit?".This was a front office role (not sure if you're looking at middle office quant role), but the final interview was a fairly standard meeting with 3 traders where they fire curveballs at you at 90 miles an hour, test how you deal with mind games (e.g. commenting on your nervousness and scrutinising what you say) and where they put you under pressure over the CV in ways HR wouldn't. In my case it was on working with people and personal skills. Even nowadays where I have things on my CV like Toastmasters, have worked with people and have worked in client oriented environments where I have developed my interpersonal and pressure handling skills, I still get interviewers trying to portray me as merely technical - this is to wind me up and see how I react and will happen with SIG if you get this far. They want you to see if you can handle being screamed at by traders (often pathologically and unfairly) and people asking for quick and dirty answers. In particular it is important to understand their strategy as market maker - weighting their own trading strategies on the basis of where their more intelligent clients are investing, and that you emphasise an understanding that your solutions will be quick and dirty, as opposed to the uni approach of perfected within a luxuriously generous deadline.

Sorry my PC told me my original reply didn't come up...