Two Sigma Software Engineer interview questions

Process took 4+ weeks. They are extremely slow in moving forward. 1. Phone Interview: Started with HR round for 20-30 mins to see if there is a fit. 2. Online Coding Test: Have to solve a couple of questions in 2 hrs. There is enough time to complete the 2 questions if you know what you are doing. 3. Phone Interview: Followed with a technical interview, easy as they are all about basic OS, data structures, sorting algos etc. Easy to get past this as well. 4. Onsite Technical Interview: 3 Rounds. The process ended with HR showing you out after lunch. I am not sure if this is a positive or negative experience as the interview process have high standards, didn't expect any less but also too stringent and short sighted. My first 2 tech rounds onsite went very well but went a little over time meaning I was left with ~40 mins for the last interview. Every interviewer has a mind set that you have to solve 2-3 questions correctly and this became a problem when I was left with only 10-12 mins for the second question in my third interview. He was literally counting down and I felt like I as put on a clock to solve the problem within the time frame or would be kicked out. That is exactly what happened as I could only give him the algorithm with few hints but not code it. I also felt sick when the third interviewer looked down on me saying "Oh I know, zeros and ones it's very complex!" with a smirk on his face - Arrogant. Expecting a candidate to give an algorithm and code it bug free in around 20 mins for each question is random as the difficulty of the questions vary(also if you are coding in C++). This might not get you good candidates even if they are unless the firm is against C++ as I know they only focus on JVM languages. This is evident by the fact that almost everyone I met is in a team which has more than 2 openings for over 6 months. I know they are a great firm doing very well and was disappointed to not get the offer but felt like I could not have done anything much better except for may be managing my time better and I felt it should not get down to that. For other potential candidates, All the best and do manage your time well!

I was contacted by external recruiter. Then one phone screen with a recruiter from the company. Then coding test for 2 hours. Then another guy who is a software engineer contacted with me asked bunch of technical questions that are collected from internet. Nothing very original, probably all questions he asked were among top 50 interview questions. He was a nice guy. Then they invite me to onsite in Houston. First interview was with a manager. General questions about my background. He asked some factual questions. Some of them were really stupid. I tried to answer all questions and I think my interpretations were good. I sometimes express that what he asks is not very meaningful because of xyz reason, he accepted etc.. Then he asked a coding question which was not hard. I solved it in less than 7-8 minutes I guess. You write code on a laptop. He look at the code and find a test case which fails the program. I suggest two ways to fix it and I fix it. Then he starts discussing which was is more efficient. I said express my idea. It was related with letters. I wrote the code in Java. He asked me, how can I efficiently convert uppercase letter to a lowercase letter. I answered using Java way of thinking. This guy was very interested in to the low level programming. He talks about a tricky way to do it. Actually before he mentioned, I gave an answer which was very similar to his answer. He did not like it for some reason. Then we talk about test cases. I gave two different answers. I tried to point out that I would test boundary conditions as well as regular conditions. I suggested an automated way to test the program that I wrote. He liked the idea. Then he tried to confuse me with an another idea which was actually identical. He said that details are very important for the company etc.. He even go into machine code level details of the implementation. It was a weird interview. I don't really like the guy. He was obsessed with stupid tricks. Even though, your answers are close to the tricks that he amazed with, he does not like to recognize that you know what he has in his mind. Weird guy, a type of guy which is impossible to make him happy. Then another guy came, he asked some questions about my background previous work etc.. He seems like he was very interested in to what I did before. I recently finished my PhD, I talk about what I did for my dissertation etc.. He asked me to write a binary tree. I wrote it. Then he wanted me to test it by printing it. I wrote a method which had a slight problem, but I solved (he also give an idea while solving it). I tested the tree. Everything was working etc.. Two guys take me to lunch to a nice place. They told me that they won't give any feedback and I can ask any question that I want. I ask questions about the company and Houston. They seem like they were happy to work in Two Sigma and live in Houston. They tried to create an impression that very special people work in the company. They were nice guys. We returned to the company. The secretary came and said that they did not feel that I am a good match. Then I left from the company. It was a bit surprising because I wrote the code for two programming questions without any problem. Second interviewer behaved so nice. I answered most of first interviewers questions, I discussed a little bit and persist correctness of my answers. Maybe he did not like me because I was not submissive lol :) .