Interviewing at Hudson River Trading (HRT) can seem daunting. As one of the top proprietary trading firms in the world they receive thousands of applications every year for a limited number of openings. Competition is fierce and the interview process is designed to thoroughly vet candidates to find the best of the best.
But with the right preparation and insight into what HRT looks for, you can confidently tackle the interview and give yourself the best shot at landing your dream job. In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know to ace the HRT interview process, from what to expect during the different rounds to the most commonly asked questions and how to nail your responses.
Overview of the HRT Interview Process
The HRT interview process consists of several rounds
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Pre-Interview Screening: A short 30 minute call with a recruiter to discuss your background, interests, and expectations. This helps filter out candidates before the intensive process.
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Coding Test: A timed coding test on Hackerrank or Codility focused on algorithms and data structures. Aims to evaluate raw programming skills.
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Technical Phone Interview: A 45 minute screen focused on computer science fundamentals, data structures, and algorithms. Whiteboard coding is required.
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On-Site Interviews: 4-6 back-to-back interviews in one day, conducted either virtually or in-person. Includes coding on a whiteboard and discussions of various technical topics.
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Team Interviews: Conversational interviews with members of the team you would join, focused on culture fit.
What HRT Looks For in Candidates
HRT’s interview process is designed to assess both hard technical skills and soft “collaboration” skills. Here are the key things they evaluate:
Programming Ability: You need to demonstrate fluency in C++, Python, and other languages, along with strong algorithms and data structure knowledge. Expect whiteboard coding.
Problem Solving: Interviewers present open-ended problems and assess how you break down and methodically work towards a solution.
Systems Expertise: You need a solid grasp of low-level systems like memory, I/O, threads, and networking. Expect questions on these topics.
Communication Skills: Clearly explaining your ideas and thought process is crucial. Practice thinking out loud.
Teamwork: HRT values collaboration. Show you can take feedback, think flexibly, and be open to different approaches.
Passion & Cultural Fit: Interviewers want to see genuine interest in the field along with values that align with the firm’s merits-driven, transparent culture.
7 Common HRT Interview Questions
Here are some of the most frequently asked interview questions at HRT:
1. Explain a complex or abstract concept in simple terms.
This tests your ability to break down complicated topics into easy-to-understand concepts, which is key for both clear communication and effectively solving problems. Pick a reasonably technical concept from computer science and walk through an explanation as if teaching a beginner.
2. Implement common data structures like stacks, queues, trees, etc.
Expect coding questions focused on fundamental data structures – implement basic operations, discuss time and space complexity, compare different implementations. Practice coding stacks, queues, binary trees, etc from scratch.
3. Design a system like a cache, load balancer, database, etc.
HRT loves systems design questions. They’ll give a problem like “Design a URL shortening service like TinyURL” and look for discussing trade-offs, APIs, scalability, etc. Study up on architecture principles.
4. Optimize code performance.
You’ll be given working code snippets with inefficiencies and asked to optimize for faster runtimes, less memory usage, etc. Analyze bottlenecks, walk through improvements, discuss complexity analysis.
5. Diagnose issues in multi-threaded code.
Threading questions are common – you’ll need to debug concurrency bugs like race conditions, deadlock, etc. Brush up on sync primitives like mutexes, semaphores, locks.
6. Explain how fundamental technologies like HTTP, DNS, TCP/IP work.
Be prepared to dive deep into core internet technologies and protocols at a low level. Understand request flows, handshakes, caching, and other implementation details.
7. Probability and statistics problems.
As a trading firm, expect math-heavy questions on topics like distributions, standard deviations, confidence intervals, and more. Review basic stats and practice working through word problems.
5 Tips for Acing the HRT Interview
Follow these tips to maximize your chances of impressing the interviewers and landing the job:
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Practice aloud – Verbalize your thoughts while coding and solving problems to mirror the interview setting.
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Research the company – Understand HRT’s business, culture, and technical blog to ask thoughtful questions.
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Review CS fundamentals – Brush up core data structures, algorithms, design patterns, and low-level systems.
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Prepare stories – Have clear examples ready for behavioral questions around projects, challenges, leadership, etc.
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Ask clarifying questions – Don’t hesitate to speak up if you need a question clarified or more detail.
Preparation is key for the intensive HRT interview gauntlet. Master the computer science fundamentals, polish your verbal communication abilities, and walk in with the right mindset – and you’ll be primed for success. With diligent practice using resources like LeetCode, Elements of Programming Interviews, and Cracking the Coding Interview, you can confidently tackle any question they throw your way.
The HRT interview is no cakewalk, but with the right combination of technical proficiency, problem-solving skills, and collaborative thinking, you have an excellent chance of landing your dream job at one of the top trading firms in the world. Bring your A-game, think on your feet, communicate clearly, and show your passion – and you’ll be on your way to an exciting career pushing the boundaries of technology and trading. Best of luck!
Hudson River Trading LLCProprietary Trading
Based on the Interview Insights at this company, the Interview Experience is a score between 1 star (very bad) and 5 stars (very good).
The number in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the mean of all these scores. If you move your mouse over the different parts of the doughnut, you’ll see exactly how each score was calculated.
The title percentile score is based on an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates that is applied to the whole Company Database. This is done to account for companies that don’t have many interview insights. For easy explanation, when a business gets more reviews, the belief in its “true score” grows. This makes it move closer to its own simple average and away from the overall average of the dataset. 3. 4.
Based on the Interview Insights at this company, the Interview Difficulty is a score that goes from “very difficult” (red) to “very easy” (green).
The number in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the mean of all these scores. The higher the number, the more difficult the interviews on average. This doughnut has different parts that, when you move your mouse over them, show you the 20% breakdown of each score given.
The title percentile score is based on an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates that is applied to the whole Company Database. This is done to account for companies that don’t have many interview insights. That is, as a business learns more, it becomes more sure of a “true score,” which moves it closer to its own simple average and away from the overall average of the data set. 3. 5.
Based on reviews at this company, the 20% of interns getting full-time offers chart is meant to give you a good idea of how the company hires people.
The number in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the mean of all these scores. This doughnut has different parts that, when you move your mouse over them, show you the 20% breakdown of each score given.
It uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates to account for companies that don’t have many reviews, which is how the percentile score in the title is found. To put it simply, when a business gets more reviews, the “true score” becomes more likely to be accurate. This makes it move closer to the simple company average and away from the average of all the data. 35%.
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FAQ
How hard is the Hudson River trading interview?
What does it take to get into Hudson River trading?
What was the interview process like at Hudson River trading?
I interviewed at Hudson River Trading There was an online test followed by multiple interviews. The online test round was mostly leet code medium questions while all the other rounds had hard questions during the interviews. I applied online.
How do I find a job at Hudson River trading?
Glassdoor has millions of jobs plus salary information, company reviews, and interview questions from people on the inside making it easy to find a job that’s right for you. Hudson River Trading interview details: 359 interview questions and 341 interview reviews posted anonymously by Hudson River Trading interview candidates.
How long is a coding interview at Hudson River trading?
I interviewed at Hudson River Trading in Oct 2022 Participated in to the online coding assessment. 90 min for 4 questions. One question must use Python, while another 3 questions can be written either in Python or in C++. Use codesignal to test. This is the first step to get into the interview process.
How difficult is Hudson River trading online assessment?
I applied online. I interviewed at Hudson River Trading online assessment after submitting application , got an email asking to finish the assessment. the assessment has 4 coding questions, the last 2 are difficult. they did not offer . It was a code signal test with 4 questions with a 90 minute time limit.
