TransMarket Group Onsite Interview

I just got invited to the on site interview, and was wondering if anyone knew what to expect? They indicated it will be a 7-10 hour technical\personality and fit interview. Any tips on how I should prepare?

So far I have had an hour long math\finance\brain teaser interview (contrary to another post linear algebra was included), a take home programming exam (took about 7 hours), a take home finance exam (took about 3 hours), and 2 personality\fit phone interviews.

 

It depends on what you are interviewing for. What position? Intern, full time, etc?

I interviewed there last week for a hybrid trade logic\trading position, so I might be able to help for either position. Still waiting to hear back. Regardless of the position I would say get a good nights sleep and know your math.

 

I am interviewing for a trade logic role. What is your background? They told me they interview based on background. I have a non finance related phd (Physics) and very good programming\math experience. Worked at a hedge fund the past 3 years. Is your background similar? If not, I doubt the interview will be the same. Even still, perhaps some pointers on the personality\fit section would be good.

 
Best Response

My background is a bit different. CS undergrad, then I was a quantitative developer at a HF for 2 years and am now finishing up my MSCF at a top program. Last summer I did the FTAP program at Citadel, but decided it wasn't for me (great firm, but wanted to get out of pure software development and into strategy).

I think the majority of the questions will be similar. Basically, you will be interviewing with several people (CEO, CIO, MDs, Traders, Software Developers, TLDs) for about 30-45 minutes each. The CEO really digs deep into learning more about what you have done in the past. Make sure you can clearly explain the projects you have worked on, and how they impacted the company. The CIO spends a lot of time on the technology side. He wants to make sure every employee under him has business knowledge. He wants to make sure you understand how everything fits together. The MD of Software spends a lot of time on math (Diff eq, lin alg, stats). I prepped with An Introduction to Ordinary Differential Equations by Robinson and this really helped. They are a C++ shop, so they really grill you on this stuff. The traders spend a good amount of time on finance related questions. They told me to prep with options, futures, and other derivatives by Hull. Lastly, there are a lot of your standard personality\fit questions. They will most likely be similar to the questions asked at the HF you were at.

In general, I would say you should spend about 20 hours or so reviewing math, finance, and cs to prep for the interview. If you are interviewing with some other top shops (jane street, getco, jump) I would say the interview process is pretty similar. I think it is probably a bit harder than JS or Getco. I didn't interview with Jump so I couldn't say. The interview is much harder than Citadel's though.

 

In general, expect a technically oriented interview. Interviews with prop shops are very similar to S&T interviews on Wall Street. TransMarket Group is one of the better firms to work for.

If you have "Heard on the street" go over it. Otherwise, a few sample prop shop interview questions of which I'm pretty sure one will come up:

-How much does a Boeing 747 weigh?

-what's 19x21? 48x52? (you get the drift- remember how to spot (x+a)*(x-a)).

Bottom line, they want to see how you think. Exercise before-hand.

 

^^ linear algebra, lol... only if you are a math major so don't stress that... know the general dice questions, angle on a clock... know how put-call parity works.... probability and stats questions, think out load and be clear... PM me with more questions.... I had an offer from them

 
beefcake8:
I have a second round phone interview with TransMarket Group tomorrow to "further evaluate my technical abilities." Has anyone interviewed with them before? And does anyone have any interview advice or any questions they were asked?

Beefcake8! I'm currently interviewing with Transmarket as well and was wondering how your interview went: how competitive was the process? Their interviewing process is so long! Is it actually worth it?

 

For math, just know the fundamentals of whatever's on your resume - if you have prob & stat, know bayes, combinatorics, etc. They will not ask you anything not on your resume, or anything you couldn't reason through on your own

http://courses.csail.mit.edu/iap/interview/materials.php some intro level programming stuff

I would expect brainteasers as well

 

There's really nothing to indicate any real intensive math skills on my resume, but of course I'm thinking I'll at least have to have some basic calc stuff covered.

I've been going through brainteasers a lot lately, I feel good about those but will keep on them. Thanks for the link, I'll take a look at that.

"When you stop striving for perfection, you might as well be dead."
 

First round you'll get teasers and some finance questions, just read the sections of Hull they told you to read and you should be good.

At the end of the first round they will give you a 'study guide'. Don't blow it off and actually do the study guide and write down your answers somewhere. The second round consists of more brain teasers and questions straight off of the study guide. The study guide has some more technical questions and you can't just wing it.

 

Hey guys,

Just a quick update. Have been trying to get this interview scheduled with them, but will hopefully be having it this week, and will have something to report back.

Thanks for all your insight.

"When you stop striving for perfection, you might as well be dead."
 

I got offered the same first round interview, based upon math and finance, within 3 hours of applying. The problem is that, even though I'm pretty good at math, I haven't done math in college (I got calc 1 and calc 2 credit from high school and haven't taken any further math classes because I'm not interested).

I'm wondering what kind of questions can be expected in the first round and how to prepare? Also, I'm a sophomore, so I'm not sure if they will take it easier on me?

 
bokonon:
I recently got a second round interview, but was informed that there would be still two more to go. Since now is already mid of May, I am wondering whether anyone has already got the intern offer or not. If so, could you share your interview experience? Thank you!

Bokonon! I'm currently interviewing with Transmarket as well and was wondering how your interview went: how competitive was the process? There interviewing process is so long! Is it actually worth it?

 

They don't have a structured program... they interview whenever they want and their process can take well into April. I interviewed with them for full time and a friend interviewed with them for the summer.

This was my process: 1) First round phone interview- basic resume questions, some basic probability and brainteasers. 2) The second round was a 24 hour exam. There were questions on options, forwards, futures, statistics, etc. 3) The third round was another phone interview. Again, some resume questions and we went over a few questions from the test.

Then, I didn't hear from them for 2 weeks and after emailing them I was told that I didn't get it.

 

I didn't get through the first round. It started out with easy probability problems. Then he started to ask me questions on calculus and statistics which I haven't done in a few years. For example, what's the standard deviation of 2 variables given a correlation. I wasn't prepared for them. I was expecting probability/brain teasers like most of the other firms ask. He also asked me questions on options including how to calculate the value of an option in a very bizarre and impractical way. I was told beforehand that I would be asked basic math and finance questions before the interview and that I wouldn't have to worry about that material until the take home test. I would then have to study that material for the 3rd round. The interviewer didn't seem as friendly as the other interviewers I've had either. Not a total dick, but definitely had a bit of an ego and was quick to blame me for any miscommunication issues that can occur over the phone. If you read on Glassdoor the reviews are pretty negative on them. I don't see myself applying there in the future. I'm from a non-target and they gave me an opportunity so I appreciate that.

 
Macro <span class=keyword_link><a href=/resources/skills/trading-investing/arbitrage target=_blank>Arbitrage</a></span>:
PM WSOer ah. She knows whats up in the Chicago prop scene.

Macro, you are a gentleman and a scholar. Thanks

 

Don't know if Cahnman is still running the show. The probability questions weren't calculus based. I don't believe that the shop is that quant heavy. I believe they deal more with chart reading. One question I vaguely remember from the test that tripped me up went something like this.

If there are a hundred people and a hundred light switches. All switches begin in the off position. If the first guy flips every switch, and the second guy flips every other switch, and the third guy flips every third switch, all the way to the 100 guy. How many lights remain on after the hundredth guy?

I don't know the answer, just something to think about before you go in.

 
osirus0830:
If there are a hundred people and a hundred light switches. All switches begin in the off position. If the first guy flips every switch, and the second guy flips every other switch, and the third guy flips every third switch, all the way to the 100 guy. How many lights remain on after the hundredth guy?

for future ref, this is a common question. figure it out beforehand.

 

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