DE Shaw | SMTS | Bangalore | Rejected
March 26, 2026 · 1 reads
Summary
I interviewed for a Senior Member of Technical Staff (SMTS) role at DE Shaw in Bangalore. I was rejected after two rounds covering a tree search problem and core Java concepts.
Full Experience
Status: 2.10 YOE Position: SMTS (Senior Member of Technical Staff) Location: Bangalore
Round 1: DSA / Trees
- Question: Find a specific node in a level-order wise sorted tree. The prerequisite was that the number of nodes is given, and the expectation was to perform a binary search directly on the tree. Conceptually similar to traversing based on complete tree properties like Count Complete Tree Nodes: https://leetcode.com/problems/count-complete-tree-nodes/
Round 2: Core Java & Output Questions
- Questions: Heavily focused on Java internals.
- Difference between
==and.equals()for Strings. - String Constant Pool (SCP).
StringBuffervsStringBuilder.- Pass-by-Value vs Pass-by-Reference in Java.
- Heap vs Stack memory allocation.
Verdict: Rejected. I lacked deep theoretical knowledge of some of the core Java internals expected in Round 2.
Interview Questions (1)
1.
Find Node in Level-Order Sorted Complete Tree
Data Structures & Algorithms·Medium
Find a specific node in a level-order wise sorted tree. The prerequisite was that the number of nodes is given, and the expectation was to perform a binary search directly on the tree. Conceptually similar to traversing based on complete tree properties like Count Complete Tree Nodes.