D. E. Shaw Research Software Engineer Interview Questions
& Process

I've applied to this company four times between 2020 and 2023, each time with more experience, but I've never made it past the application screen for a full-time role. I'm not sure what they're looking for. The only time I got a first-round interview was for an internship back in 2020 when I had less experience. The interview was a bit strange with a scientific associate who kept pausing and asked direct questions about me and my undergrad research.

After applying online, I went through two phone interviews which covered my background and some technical questions, like optimizing a vector addition loop in C, which led to a discussion on loop unrolling and optimizations. Because I did well, I was invited for an on-site interview at DESRES in New York. The office is nice, with a cool entry hall featuring their Anton super-computer. The dress code is casual. I had four one-hour one-on-one sessions: first with the head of the group, then three with team members. Each session involved discussion about the group and their role, detailed questions about my past work, and a programming task on a whiteboard. The tasks were standard, usually starting with an obvious solution and then asking for improvements. Unfortunately, I was tired from traveling and didn't perform my best. I was also told about a lunch with another team member and potential afternoon interviews. After the four sessions and lunch, I was informed that everything was completed and I didn't need to stay for the afternoon, which I understood as a rejection. Despite this, my overall experience was very positive, and I recommend DESRES for anyone interested in high-performance computing for molecular dynamics. The team is growing, the atmosphere is challenging yet academic, and the interview process isn't as tough as one might expect for such a position. Practice programming puzzles and make sure you're well-rested for the interviews.

I applied at a university career fair for a Software Engineering internship. After that, I had some phone screens. The first one went well and they scheduled a second. It wasn't super heavy on CS skills, but more about my understanding of basic biology and chemistry.