| Topic Name: |
DE Shaw |
| Message Name: |
Agreed |
| Date Posted: |
11/30/2003 |
| In Reply To: |
I made it far into their interview process. They are elitist as all hell. They care less about pedigree than they do about math smarts and computer science. That said, they are elitist as hell, and love well groomed super-nerds. They also treat their recruits like shit. They never make a direct statement, and really drag it on for a long time. A friend of mine was called to New York for several interviews for different slots before they told him, at the last minute, that they felt a PhD would be a better fit.
If you are a) just about done with a seriously quantitative PhD/Master's, b) ridiculously well-versed in what delta's, gamma's, theta's, etc. are, c) only showed up for the final in Calc 3 and got an A++++ in the class, d) learned C++ when you were three, and e) preferably all of the above... you'll do fine.
Also, they do a terrible job of matching interviewees with correct jobs inside the company, as a warning.
That said, great place to work if you get it. |
| Message: |
Mjradolf - I agree with your recollections especially regarding mismatching people for positions. I interviewed with four DE guys for a option trader position over the course of two rounds.
I found myself very interested in the first guy who was a junior portfolio manger in distressed debt and got hammered by subsequent two traders.
I was contacted two years ago by a headhunter just based on SAT score posted on Monster (any high SAT, GMAT, SAT II Math scores you have will help you). I filled out information but it never went anywhere.
About 6 months later while Googling I found articles on the Harvard Math website by a MD who went there. I contacted him as I took courses there and got a first round phone interview and then progressed from there. My first round was bad because my interviewer was doing it while trading so there were stops and stalls and it was hard to put together a cogent discussion.
The HR guy has a women's name. ;). It is definitely an elite place and I was disappointed that it didn't work out but again the position and process were poorly managed. It is also a culture of specialists so being "well rounded" is probably a hindrance.
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