I applied online. I interviewed at G-Research (London, England) in Jun 2021
Interview
Unprofessional. Had a phone interview with a lady from HR/Talent team, was very positive and she was very enthusiastic that the team leader loved my CV, and would I be able to come into the office within end of next week/start of the following to meet the manager, confirmed I could, cancelled plans, to hear nothing. I emailed a few days later confirming my availability - and they never even had the decency to reply. This seems to be a common occurrence looking at reviews and also knowing a lady who applied for a Finance Analyst role at the start of October - she reported exactly the same experience as I have had. Don’t waste your time - highly unprofessional company.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Implement the myAtoi(string s) function, which converts a string to a 32-bit signed integer (similar to C/C++'s atoi function). The algorithm for myAtoi(string s) is as follows: Read in and ignore any leading whitespace. Check if the next character (if not already at the end of the string) is '-' or '+'. Read this character in if it is either. This determines if the final result is negative or positive respectively. Assume the result is positive if neither is present. Read in next the characters until the next non-digit character or the end of the input is reached. The rest of the string is ignored. Convert these digits into an integer (i.e. "123" -> 123, "0032" -> 32). If no digits were read, then the integer is 0. Change the sign as necessary (from step 2). If the integer is out of the 32-bit signed integer range [-231, 231 - 1], then clamp the integer so that it remains in the range. Specifically, integers less than -231 should be clamped to -231, and integers greater than 231 - 1 should be clamped to 231 - 1. Return the integer as the final result.
The interview process was thorough and well structured. It focused primarily on data structures and algorithms, and the level was broadly in line with what you would expect for a software engineering interview of this type. I cannot share specific details of the questions, but standard preparation in algorithms, data structures, problem solving, and coding under interview conditions should be sufficient. Overall, it felt rigorous but fair.
There were mostly algorithmic questions to be solved on a whiteboard. Then, after a lunch with a couple of the junior staff, the tell you whether you’re into the next round. There is also a test beforehand.
2-3 parts depending on team. Pretty in depth on topics. 2 coding rounds I believe. Interview process is fairly quick. It’s not a process that takes 3-4 weeks. 2 weeks max, 1 week if you’re really adamant.