Nomura

The process consisted of resume shortlisting, a Group Discussion, two Technical rounds and an HR round. Out of 27 shortlisted candidates, the GD was conducted in small groups on topics related to AI and data privacy, such as whether AI will replace software engineers, data privacy concerns, and government regulation of AI. The GD had very limited preparation and speaking time, so the ability to make relevant, clear points quickly was important. After the GD, 7 candidates progressed to Technical Round 1. Technical Round 1 was primarily focused on my resume, analytics skills and Python. I was asked to explain a relevant project, followed by Python questions involving Pandas queries, concat vs merge, lambda functions, append vs extend, aggregate vs transform and DataFrame operations. I was also given a DSA question on detecting a cycle in a linked list, where approaches using fast and slow pointers and a Hash Set were discussed. Out of 7 candidates, 3 moved to the next stage. Technical Round 2 was a mix of resume-based, finance and behavioural questions. The interviewer discussed my internships and technical experiences, while respecting the limitations of an NDA-protected project. Questions covered why Nomura and the role, career goals, handling unfamiliar tasks under tight deadlines, motivation, finance exposure and factors affecting oil prices. There were also situational and personality-based questions, focusing on how I approach problems, learn independently, use available resources and justify my interests and career choices. Not selected for HR round