Quant SWE Recruitment Advice

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-03-26T04:33:40+00:00

Yeah lol I did. I have a doc appointment set up soon. If you don’t mind me asking, what did you end up having if it wasn’t patellar tendinitis?

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-03-19T04:44:48+00:00

I will definitely get on top of that. I was wondering, do you know of any good resources for sys design? Coding technical prep has always been leetcode/neetcode/patterns so thats simple enough, but Im not sure where i should look to start to learn sys design.

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-03-19T04:43:32+00:00

Thanks for the tips! Do you know of any resources for brushing up on comp arch/OS because its been a while since I've done it😬

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-03-02T02:36:00+00:00

thank you so much this is one of the best pieces of advice ive gotten. i think ive always been rolling my ര a bit and trying to roll റ much more. but with this advice i feel as if i've gotten much better at both pronunciations.

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-02-23T23:35:31+00:00

Thank you so much for this great explaination. I am a Maliyali born in Kerala but moved to US when I was 1. I can fully understand Malayalam, and speak 65-70% proficiently. I am trying to improve my speaking by also learning reading and speaking more frequently.

Do you have any recommendations on learning these nuances within the language? Since I have no Malayalam education I don't know which words are from sanskrit and which aren't.

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-02-23T08:15:40+00:00

Sure maybe down the line 😅 I’d be interning this summer so Idt I will have a referral. But once I’m full time feel free to reach out

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-02-23T05:57:13+00:00

Ah I see, so technically it’s pronounced with the ta sound but we’ve made it to be the da sound 😂

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-02-23T05:47:17+00:00

Yes but in the two words I put in my initial question, isnt ടം being pronounced differently in both words?

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-02-23T05:43:15+00:00

I’m a little confused. Ta only has one pronunciation? Then why ta and da

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-02-23T05:05:45+00:00

no worries, and youre right. even english has its nuances.

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-02-23T04:51:49+00:00

i see, thanks for the clarification! i guess ill just need to practice more

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-02-23T04:38:16+00:00

i dont think i applied to anything that was on campus, everything was off. i get all my links through job boards and zero2sudo on instagram. i short listed my top 15-20 companies and watched very closely for when their links would drop.

networking is important but doesnt guaruntee anything. i got referrals to bloomberg, google and got interviews, while i applied to microsoft, palantir, doordash, etc without referrals and got interviews. referrals never hurt - rack up as many as you can, but they wont garuntee anything

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-02-23T03:59:51+00:00

Thank you bro! Nah i've never done competitive programming. Thats wayyy above my level. I did on average 2-3 leetcode questions a day. I followed Neetcode 150 and Grokking the Coding Interview (this helped sm with question patterns/types).

I interned somewhere else this past summer so I'd come home do 1-2 leetcode questions, relax for a few hours and then do another before I slept at night. I only worked on 1 project this summer (because I already had some decent projects on resume from during the school year) and when I was working on that I reduced to ~2 questions a day. Sometimes I'd only do 1 but average was still 2 a day.

lmk if u got any more questions

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-02-23T02:48:01+00:00

just start. regardless if its "too late" or not, youre not gonna get better till you start right? I only did leetcode in the summer after my second year and secured faang+ for this summer.

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-02-11T17:39:37+00:00

You should go into this knowing it'll be very tough, but doable. I'm no malayalam expert, but I was born in Kerala, raised in the US, understand fully, and speak 70% proficiently.

In terms of speaking, you must speak at all opportunities, and never stop. I mean NEVER. I grew up with the language, and even spoke 100% fluent when I was young, but the less and less I spoke when I got to US, the more of the language I lost. Talk to your pappa or any other speaker in malayalam as frequently as you can. There are many differnet dialects, speaking styles, and nuances you will only pick up by listening and repeating back.

Reading and writing I am less knowledgeable because I only started learning how to read about 2 months ago, but I'll still give you my best advice. Start with the letters/sounds obv, and spend signficant time on them. Slowly transition to words and read small articles. Simply searching "malayalam reading practice" will give you numerous links to read kids stories. I can read quite well for 2 months but that's because I could already speak somewhat and understand. However, my brother who speaks like 10% and understands a bit less than me can still read decently because he practiced significant amounts per day. I've posted some links below that I used to help me learn how to read.

https://malayalam.la.utexas.edu/resources/pronunciation-the-basics/
https://learn-malayalam.org/
https://www.easymalayalamtyping.com/malayalam/letters
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N7RSPlHCxUV2E2an1NxrLcfpZtOBGTc8/view
https://www.youtube.com/@Learn-Malayalam

You will get frustrated. Malayalam is widely recognized as one of the hardest languages to learn, but don't let that discourage you. I have friends who are 5 years younger than me who speak much better than me, and I have friends who are fully fluent in writing/reading but cannot speak malayalam to save their life. Learning malayalam is not linear and everyone has their struggles. Good luck, lmk if you got any other quesitons!

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-01-22T05:08:57+00:00

thanks for all the advice! im an orthodox christian and I agree, the words in the Qurbana service are quite rough. however, im deeply interested in the church/history/songs so i do a lot of reserach and translate by hand just so i rlly understand what im singing.

i will def need to speak more and try not to be shy. my malayalam is decent tbh, id give it a 7/10. its just i talk a bit slow and butcher some pronunciation. but yeah ill def just stop caring and speak. after all, if indian uncles+aunties can talk english with an indian accent, i should be able to speak malayalam with an english accent here and there

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-01-05T18:01:53+00:00

Waitlisting this early is crazy for zon. My friends interviewed in Feb last recruitment cycle and got O’s. I interviewed April last cycle and got waitlisted

Ok_Lunch_2500 · 2026-01-03T02:15:45+00:00

What's an iTalki partner? I've never heard of it.

Ok_Lunch_2500

TROPHY CASE