Cogo Labs Quantitative Analyst Interview Questions
& Process

The process started with a general telephone interview with a recruiter. About a week later, I had a second round interview in the office with 2 analysts. A few days after that, they flew me out to Cambridge and put me up in a hotel for the night because they wanted me to meet more analysts from different teams. On the interview day, I met with 3 groups of 2 interviewers each, and in each interview, I was presented with a different brain teaser I was asked to solve on a white board. The VP of Analytics also interviewed me, but this interview was very short and casual. I flew back home, and a few days later, I was asked to meet with 2 more analysts over Skype, where we did one more brain teaser. I got an offer the next week. It was a long but thorough process. I felt I had plenty of time to demonstrate who I was and who I would be as an employee, and I also had plenty of time to ask questions and learn more about the company. A few of the brain teasers tripped me up and flustered me slightly, but my interviewers encouraged me to ask questions so they could help me arrive at an answer. I got the impression that they weren't only testing my problem solving skills, but they were also testing my ability to communicate my thoughts about the problems clearly and work within a team. All in all, I had a very positive experience. Everybody in the office was extremely welcoming, and they did a good job of making me feel comfortable when I was there.

Started with a phone call from a recruiter, then spoke with the head of the data science group for the team I applied to. They asked a couple of brain teasers and a SQL question. The questions weren't super hard, but with brain teasers, having some prior knowledge of the problem helps a lot.

It was a pretty standard process. Started with a phone screen, then an interview with two analysts. After that, I had an interview with 4-6 analysts. I didn't get past that stage, but I think if you get through that, you're pretty much hired. There's a final interview with a director and you need to give references. It's an entry-level position they seem to be hiring for all the time, I've seen the posting for months. Lots of college grads want this job. The work and pay are average, but they're a 'cool' company in a good location, so they can be picky because so many people apply. They ask some basic behavioral and situational questions and talk about past analytics projects. It wasn't super technical. It's important to research the company because their business model is a bit unusual. Understanding what they do helped me stand out early on. They also ask brain teasers, which I'm not great at and I think they're really important because I felt good about the other parts of the interview and was qualified with my degree and experience. I would have preferred a small take-home project or a relevant case study instead of brain teasers. The process was fast, which was nice. I asked for feedback after being rejected but didn't hear back, which isn't unusual, but after three rounds, it was a bit disappointing. Overall, it was okay, except for the brain teasers. It's also a little hard to figure out what the company actually does and what your role would be since you don't apply to a specific team.