Cboe Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process was pretty easy. The first round was mostly behavioral questions and some about projects on my resume. The second round was also about my projects and why I used a specific thing. So I would be sure to know my resume and possible follow up questions pretty well.

I talked to about 4-6 different people. The whole thing was pretty straightforward. I was upfront about my current experience and how much I knew about the industry, saying it would take me a minimum of 3 months to really get a handle on the product, the terms, and the lingo. I also mentioned I learn best by reading white papers and articles to figure out what questions I need to ask. But then, after starting, they acted surprised I didn't know the industry, even though they didn't give me much in the way of support materials, training, or time, other than letting me shadow about 10 calls. It was pretty clear they were hoping for someone from NASDAQ, but nobody wanted to make that switch.

It started with a video call with the hiring manager, focusing mostly on my past experience. Then, I got a take-home assignment where I had to design a simple order book and test it with some trades. The second part involved four interviews back-to-back: first, discussing my take-home project, second, with the hiring manager again about my previous work, third, again discussing my past experience and a challenge on string encoding, and fourth, yet again about my previous experience. The interview wasn't too tough, and the team seemed pretty chill. They were quick with communication, which was nice, but sadly, no offer came my way.

I interviewed for an SRE position at Cboe Global Markets Japan in Tokyo. The process was long but good, with friendly interviewers. It had 5 rounds. Round 1 was a screening with the regional SRE Manager about my background and some technical questions. Round 2 was a Technical Interview with a Senior SRE in Chicago, covering Linux, SQL, and general CS. Round 3 was a take-home assignment to parse TCP pitch data, which I had a week for and enjoyed. Round 4 was another Technical Interview with a Senior SRE Manager in Chicago, similar to Round 2 and felt a bit redundant. Round 5 was the final interview with the local CTO and CEO. I got a good vibe from the engineers and company, but turned down the role for another offer that fit my goals better.