With the rapid development of financial technology and quantitative investment, Quant roles are becoming increasingly popular in the investment banking industry. Candidates applying for Quant positions, such as Quant developer, Quant researcher, need to prepare for highly technical interviews, where they will be tested on programming, statistics, financial modeling and other quantitative skills. Reviewing common Quant interview questions and answers is crucial for candidates to stand out and land these competitive roles. This article summarizes key Quant interview questions compiled from top firms like Jane Street, Citadel, Two Sigma, based on materials shared on Github and around the web. Read on to learn how to ace your Quant interview and set yourself apart from other candidates.
Be ready to demonstrate programming skills and coding logic
Quant roles require advanced programming skills, so expect coding questions and logic puzzles. Brush up on data structures, algorithms and be ready to write syntactically correct code on the whiteboard. Some examples are FizzBuzz, finding duplicates in an array, string manipulation, bit manipulation, tree traversal, sorting algorithms. You need to not only get the right answer, but also showcase your thinking process and coding best practices like modularization, error handling.
Master probability, statistics and machine learning concepts
Solid grasp of probability, statistics and machine learning is a must for Quant interviews. Review basic concepts like distributions, hypothesis testing, regression models, overfitting vs underfitting, bias vs variance, regularization, cross validation. Expect both theoretical questions and implementation problems. Be able to explain tradeoffs of different models and when to apply certain techniques.
Demonstrate financial modeling and derivatives pricing knowledge
Quants need to build models to analyze securities and find profitable trading opportunities. Brush up on options pricing models like Black-Scholes and binomial trees. Understand how to calculate greeks and implied volatility. Be familiar with fixed income concepts like yield, duration and convexity. Practicing modeling scenarios like LBO models, merger models and DCF valuation is highly recommended.
Show passion and interest in markets and technology
Quant interviews also assess your overall fit and interest level. Show your curiosity and passion for financial markets, programming, data analysis. Ask thoughtful questions. Discuss finance and tech news stories. Quants collaborate in fast-paced team environments, so people skills and communication ability also matter.
In order to excel in Quant interviews, candidates should comprehensively prepare programming, statistics, financial modeling and soft skills. Reviewing Quant interview questions compiled online and doing mock interviews can help identify knowledge gaps and get comfortable demonstrating abilities under pressure. With diligent preparation, you can stand out in this competitive field.