Software Engineer Interview Experience - Hong Kong
Process
The interview starts with a software engineering HackerRank test, which took 8 hours. The question was simple but demanded a lot of engineering design, documentation, and testing, easily taking over 10 hours.
Then came the HR interview, which was just a casual chat about why I wanted to leave and what I hoped to do next. I was warned by my recruiter that many people fail this stage, and I also failed it. I evaluated myself afterward and felt I hadn't said anything wrong (no badmouthing of my existing employer, legitimate and genuine reasons for leaving, appropriately ambitious but not overly aggressive career goals). However, it seems they have their own unknown criteria they are looking for.
So, 8 hours were wasted on the software engineering test. Why don't you conduct HR chats first before asking me to spend this amount of time?
Questions
Given the edges of a tree, convert it to a pre-order traversal output.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 1 interview experience for the Optiver Software Engineer role in Hong Kong.
Success Rate
Optiver's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in Hong Kong is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very negative feelings for Optiver's Software Engineer interview process in Hong Kong.
Optiver Work Experiences
- 4.0Great Colleagues, Varying Quality of ManagersSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeSydney, New South Wales, AustraliaFebruary 16, 2025Pros: Working with highly intelligent and motivated colleagues on interesting problems.Cons: Varying management styles can handcuff your ability to progress on projects.
- 5.0Rewarding place to workSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeChicago, Illinois, United StatesSeptember 26, 2017Pros: - Intelligent and humble coworkers - Great pay - Engineers are promoted and paid based on merit. There is transparency regarding levels (junior, senior status, etc.), and your guess is likely correct about where others are. - With everything in technology and trading constantly changing, there is much room for growth and taking on new responsibilities, even immediately after starting. - Everything is solid, including culture in general, 401k, massages, breakfast, lunch, snacks, five weeks of vacation shortly after starting (which everyone actually takes), and yearly company trips. - Useless meetings are cut short or cut out; there is little opportunity for being bored. - Team leads aren’t simply middle managers; they’ve excelled at the role they are leading. - Expectations are extremely consistent: focus on clean, simple solutions, own the stack, and grasp the feedback loop of development.Cons: - Making significant changes that affect trading can be stressful, though this is largely mitigated by frequent releases and having a plan if your solution is broken.
- 4.0Good Pay, Low InterestSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeChicago, Illinois, United StatesOctober 12, 2022Pros: Pay, money, salary, income, TCCons: Time, life, sanity, interest, depression
Optiver Interview Questions
