FIT Questions Flashcards
Why IMC?
1) Consistently been most innovative and exciting mm’s since 1989. It has always been on the intersection of cutting edge algorithms and technology.
2) I think what sets IMC apart is its core values of meritocracy and openness. This manifests (collaboration between offices) (quote from video : “seen as a group of friends that does exciting stuff together”
4) Fosters an environment of mentorship and collaboration (v unique). Investing a lot of time into graduate hires. I want to grow as fast as possible.
5) Via increased responsibility and learning early on.
6) charity work, IMC foundation
Biggest failure in your life?
1) I think my biggest failure is not achieving a 1st class degree.
2) I had trouble overcommitting to activates in first year, which impacted my grades.
3) To work on this, I prioritised the commitments most important to me, and scheduled my time much more effectively, and saw a massive improvements in my grades.
4) But unfortunately it was not enough. However, I have tried to challenge myself by learning python and adding to my statistical and combinatorics skills, and wish to continue learning and challenging myself in a fast and high-pressure environment.
Why trading ?
WILL ALLOW ME TO UTLISE MY CURRENT SKILLSET WHILST ALSO GIVING ME THE CHANCE TO CONSTANTLY UPON THIS SKILLSET WHICH IS SOMETHING I BELIEVE TO BY VERY IMPORTANT FOR A JOB.
1) Solving Complex Quantitative Problems: I know from my very quantitative degree that I love tackling complex problems and coming up with innovative and novel solutions. Financial markets provide endless new challenging and exciting problems. I also am looking to really develop my python skills as coding is something I really enjoy!
2) Ability to work under pressure and enjoy taking on risk : Constantly being forced to adapt and learn in a fast paced and high-pressure environment whilst separating your emotions when taking on risk. (I have always enjoyed taking on calculated risk when there is positive expected returns)
3)Working in a collaborative and meritocratic team environment : I have always been part of teams (football, skiing, cricket etc) and have always loved working towards a unified goal with other team members. (Such as the six-person team I previously led for the government)
In addition, the idea of a meritocracy where someone from any rank can have their idea chosen is very appealing to me!
Tell me about yourself
Im a recent graduate from UCL where I studied Physics Mathematics and Statistics. For the past year I’ve been working as a COVID 19 community outreach officer, where I have been assigned as a leader of a 6 person team.
1) Favourite part about my Physics maths and stats degree was the opportunity to work on complex concepts and going above and beyond to create optimal solutions.
2) I think this is why I’ve strived to incorporate this into my current role as a community outreach officer for the government.
3) For example, seeing that the route planning could be significantly more efficient, and taking it upon myself to create a python script that plans the fastest route (resulting in a increase of 25% time-efficiency)
4) I realised that this entrepreneurial aspect of conceiving an idea for improvements or solutions to problem, and being able to follow that idea through the process to its eventual conclusion is something that really excites me about being a trader and is what im looking for in my career.
What are you hobbies ?
Show competitiveness and enthusiasm :
Football
Gym
gaming
Biggest weaknesses ?
1) I think that my biggest weakness definitely has to be that I can struggle with overcommitting myself with regards to different aspects of my life. I want to be involved in so many things
2) for example in my first year at university I signed up to lots of clubs and made lots of commitments such as football, climbing and trying to work part time.
3) This definitely impacted my grades negatively in first year, but I took steps to prioritise and manage time more efficiently (such as organising my days in blocks)
4) and as such my grades and performance in other areas improved greatly
Biggest strengths ?
1) My colleagues at university and school , in class and in sport, always complimented me on my ability to perform and make correct decisions under pressure. An example of this would be when I was captain of the first XI team for one match as the captain was ill. I was only told right before the game and had to organise the team against our rivals Kings college.
2) Quantitative problem solving skills
3)
Tell me about your routing project
1) Downloaded street map data and plot as a simplified weighted node system using the Osmnx library and folium
2) Use networkx library to solve the travelling salesman problem and plot most efficient route
3) export as html file
Question 1 ?
I saw on your website that you have a very active charitable branch called IMC Foundation, and that in the Sydney offices they work with a charity aiming to provide housing for ill children (Bear cottage ). (something that resonates with me)
If I get the job, aside from the traineeship, will I have a chance to visit other offices, and work with the charities there.
Question 2?
Are people in the office friends outside of work ?
What activities ?
Community ?
Question 3?
1) I read that you’ve recently partnered with team liquid .
2) How did this come about? how was initial idea conceived?
3) and how has the trading side of the company benefited from this collaboration
Where do you see yourself in 5/10 years?
1) I understand that because of flat hierarchy there isn’t much traditional progression in the sense of title changes etc
2) however I want to be a well established senior trader at IMC where I am responsible for my own strategies and desk. (Like to travel so maybe try out a different office)
3) I also enjoy teaching so would like to have taken on more responsibilities in the form of teaching junior traders ie the traineeship.
Transferable skills/ things you’ve learnt at your job that will help as a Trader/ tell me about your role…
STRONG BACKGROUND IN ANALYTICS
1) Strong background in analytics.
S: Council wanted to maximise results and get more people vaccinated whilst maintaining current spending.
T: I decided to analyse large data sets detailing council expenditure and efficacy rates for getting people to vaccinate techniques.
A: I chose to do this by importing the data into a Pandas dataframe and using scikit to fit a linear regression model.
R: The results were that I managed to advise senior council members on efficient reallocation of resources and increase vaccine uptake by 5% on selected neighbourhoods.
With regards to large data set (UNDER PRESSURE AS DURING TEST) I’ve also analysed the drosophila melanogaster brain connectome using javascript.
100,000 data points.
Transferable skills/ things you’ve learnt at your job that will help as a Trader/ tell me about your role…
Communication
Treasurer for UCL Mens club: Had to source and negotiate sponsorship with local businesses
Tutored my brother and his friends.
Working under pressure/ making correct decisions/ competitive
Ive always played football to a high standard
in front of thousands of people, varsity 2nd year
