Interview Questions at JPMorgan Sales and Trading

[Andy D.]

Why are manhole covers round?

Ancient Roman sewer grates were in fact square (and the pre-cursor to the man hole).

I guess having a round cover means over time, there are no corners which can get burred and puncture tyres.

I'd say round man-hole covers are a by-product of mass produced cheap metals like Iron and the invention of the tyre.

 

[koupparis]

Round covers are easy to place on the hole. They also can't fall through the hole like a square cover might.

Pencil in a blender: You might be able to just reach up and climb out, or rock and tip the container over?

 

[pruse]

Philosophical...imagination.. Sometimes its a fine line. I have found being philosophical with such questions has been quite favorable.

that's like saying there's a fine line between football and gymnastics because they both require athletic skill.

How would you get philosophical on the blender question? you mean like, "We are all one. I am the blender and the blender is me. Now I'm beside myself with awe."?

There's that, vs. "I wait for someone to make a smoothie, I hold my breath long enough (smoothies mix in seconds in blenders), meanwhile avoiding the blades, of course, and then I swim to the top, or I just get poured into a glass and then I climb out of that glass which is presumably smaller." Or "I break off one of the blades, then I start chiseling at the glass." Or, "If I'm the size of one of those longer pencils, I should probably be able to actually jump and reach the top edge, and pull myself over to the other side."

all in all, I highly doubt you'd be contemplating universal truths if you were the size of a pencil and stuck in a blender.

 

[Joy Pathak]

that's like saying there's a fine line between football and gymnastics because they both require athletic skill.

Not really.

It's quite alright. I just have a different style of answering such questions I suppose. Definitely has not let me down yet.

 

[pruse]

Not really.

It's quite alright. I just have a different style of answering such questions I suppose. Definitely has not let me down yet.

cool. could you elaborate? i'm really curious how you would answer it...

 

[goldski]

cool. could you elaborate? i'm really curious how you would answer it...

Maybe he means, he will think about why he was put there and then try to find the reasoning behind the situation and back track from there to come up with a way to escape or convince the person who put him there to get him out.

Or, he could get technical and say... Since I am shrunk from original size to a pencil my body strength would increase significantly and I could just jump out.

 

[KaiRu]

Here is a common interview question which I have been asked recently:

Why are manhole covers round?

Then you should enjoy this

code slate: you don't bury survivors

 

[Joy Pathak]

Then you should enjoy this

code slate: you don't bury survivors

Haha. This is great.

 

[Yassine]

Then you should enjoy this

code slate: you don't bury survivors

Also the classic Round Manhole Covers, or: If Richard Feynman applied for a job at Microsoft

 

[goldski]

Thanks for the questions.

It would be great to get a collection of more S&T interview questions. I have an S&T interview coming up at a BB. Hopefully these questions help. I will add after the interview.

 

[goldski]

Here are some questions... Let's see if you guys can answer it...

What is the pricing model for FX rate ? Derive it

Long option position with 2 years to expiry. Whats more important and why? - Gamma or Vega.

When is it better to use a tree and when a hash? (programming)

Quant intern position in S&T

 

[koupparis]

Here are some questions... Let's see if you guys can answer it...

What is the pricing model for FX rate ? Derive it

Do you mean the pricing model for FX options?

Long option position with 2 years to expiry. Whats more important and why? - Gamma or Vega.

I've seen this question before. Is there a good answer to it?

 

[goldski]

Do you mean the pricing model for FX options?

I've seen this question before. Is there a good answer to it?

Vega. Far maturity options have higher Vega sensitivities. Gamma is usually low for far dated options especially this far away so that won't be an issue.

But I could be wrong as hell too.

 

[ThinkDifferent]

you talking about European options? I thought than short dated options have gamma higher than long dated options. For vega it's the other way around.

Regarding what's more important gamma or vega, there is a close relationship between the two (in the black-scholes world of course). i think they are equally important.

 

[goldski]

you talking about European options? I thought than short dated options have gamma higher than long dated options. For vega it's the other way around.

You just repeated what I said.

 

[Joy Pathak]

Here is a question for a trader position.

If you are in a line at the movies for 2 hours and someone cuts you off and comes in front of you. What do you do?

 

[ThinkDifferent]

You just repeated what I said.

..you mean the part that where you failed to say that there is an exact relationship between gamma and vega from which one can see why vega is higher for long maturity?
...or the part where you said that you "could be wrong as hell"?

 

[euroazn]

Here is a question for a trader position.

If you are in a line at the movies for 2 hours and someone cuts you off and comes in front of you. What do you do?

That's a good question. On the one hand, being passive does save you time from arguing and reduces the risk of you being removed from the line entirely - one more person is going to increase your wait by maybe half a minute.

But on the other hand, others may notice your weakness and start cutting you off... :\

 

[pruse]

Here is a question for a trader position.

If you are in a line at the movies for 2 hours and someone cuts you off and comes in front of you. What do you do?

If they cut you off *and* come in front of you, that could be a big problem. But, if all he does is cut you off, just do this... whisper such unimaginable obscenities just loud enough for the two of you to hear (but no one else) til they are so creeped out they either make a scene and get kicked off the line, or they just run for dear life.

 

[goldski]

you talking about European options? I thought than short dated options have gamma higher than long dated options. For vega it's the other way around.

Regarding what's more important gamma or vega, there is a close relationship between the two (in the black-scholes world of course). i think they are equally important.

Your answer about "equally important" is wrong. The answer I gave is the right answer.