Galatea Associates LLC Associate Interview Questions
& Process

The company has scammed me. I was told by my recruiter that I have successfully completed all the interview stages (two technical interviews, one reasoning and one Python/Java programming, and one behavioural where you just have a chat with the employees). Still, I was rejected at the end and the reason was that the salary expectation I set was too high and that there were other strong candidates later on that expected smaller salary. This is absurd. If someone successfully passes all of the recruitment processes, give him/her an offer! They also asked to fill in a very confusing form at the beginning of the recruitment process, together with 3 references, which felt a little scummy (the references should usually be expected at the end of the interview process). So I spent several (about 10-15) hours applying and passed everything to be rejected at the end!

First I talked to an associate at a career fair and then followed up via email. Next, I had a Skype interview with two associates where I had to talk about my background and current work, and what my ideal job would look like. They are looking for smart people with a quantitative background who want to do software development end-to-end and learn all about sell-side trading. Then I had an on-site interview at the Somerville office which was 4 hours long. Initially, one of the partners gave a presentation about the background of the problem I would work on, explaining everything very well, and no prior trading knowledge was needed. It's important to make this part interactive. After that, two associates discussed the problem with me in detail, and then I had an hour to draft a solution on paper or the whiteboard, after which they gave me feedback. Following a lunch break (with a restaurant gift card from Galatea), I had two hours to implement the solution in a language of my choice (I used python) with internet access. Afterwards, the two associates reviewed my code with me. For the programming problem, it's important to get something working within the 2 hours, even if it's not complete or optimal. They also asked me some general programming questions and let me ask questions about Galatea.

I started with an online coding test. Then, there was a video interview that took about an hour. After that, I had a full day coding challenge, which was remote due to the pandemic but usually in person. This involved learning a financial concept, designing an algorithm for a related problem, and then coding solutions within their existing system. Finally, I had a cultural interview where I met and talked with five different people about the company culture.