Quantitative Finance Interview系列（一）——A Practical Guide to Quantitative Finance Interviews

A successful candidate for a quantitative finance position need?

• strong mathematics background
  • probability
  • statistics
  • stochastic calculus
• solid programming skills
• basic to intermediate-level finance knowledge
• strong problem-solving skills (beyond reciting formulas or doing simple calculations)

Chapter 1 General Principles

1. Build a broad knowledge base

the style of quant interviews

1. brain tease
2. calculus
3. linear algebra
4. probability theory
5. statistics
6. derivative pricing
7. programming problems

Why are quantitative interviews so comprehensive?

1. interviewers often have diverse backgrounds. Each interviewer has his or her own favorite topics that are often related to his or her own educational background or work experience. As a result, the topics you will be tested on are likely to be very broad.

2. Your problem solving skills–a crucial requirement for any quant job—is often positively correlated to the breadth of your knowledge. A basic understanding of a broad range of topics often helps you better analyze problems, explore alternative approaches, and come up with efficient solutions. Besides, your responsibility may not be restricted to your own projects. You will be expected to contribute as a member of a bigger team. Having broad knowledge will help you contribute to the team’s success as well.

only one suggestion to a candidate: Know the basics very well.

2. Practice your interview skills

3. Listen carefully

4. Speak your mind

5. Make reasonable assumptions

To solve quantitative problems, it is crucial that you can quickly make reasonable assumptions and design appropriate frameworks to solve problems based on the assumptions.

Chapter 2 Brain Teasers

Chapter 3 Calculus and Linear Algebra