1. HR & INTRODUCTION

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1. H.R & Introduction

1. Tell me about yourself.

Good morning, and thank you for giving me this opportunity.

My name is Anirudra Kisku, and I'm a final-year Computer Science and Engineering student at nit Durgapur.

I've always been interested in problem-solving and working with data. During my degree, I've mainly worked with C++, Python, data structures, and algorithms. I've also solved more than 400 D.S.A problems, which has helped me develop a structured approach to solving problems.

One of my main projects was building a vector database from scratch in C++, where I worked with different search algorithms and compared their performance.

I'm particularly interested in Futures First because I want to apply this analytical way of thinking to financial markets, learn about derivatives, study market patterns, and understand how data can be used to make better decisions.

Your C.V supports the D.S.A, technical, and VectorForge portions.

2. Why do you want to join Futures First?

I'm interested in Futures First because the role combines analytical thinking, data, research, and decision-making.

My background is in computer science, so I'm comfortable working with data and solving problems logically. At the same time, financial markets are a new domain for me, and I'm interested in learning how derivatives markets work and how strategies can be developed by studying data and market behavior.

I also like that the internship involves learning through simulated markets rather than just theoretical learning.

3. You are a C.S.E student. Why finance?

My interest is mainly in analytical problem-solving rather than being limited to one particular domain.

Computer science has taught me how to work with data, identify patterns, solve problems, and make decisions based on logic. Financial markets also require these skills.

So I see this as an opportunity to take the skills I already have and apply them to a new domain while learning finance.

4. Why not pursue software engineering?

I'm definitely interested in software engineering, but I don't want to limit myself to only one field.

I enjoy analytical problems and working with data, and financial markets provide a different kind of challenging problem where decisions have to be made under uncertainty.

That aspect interests me, so I want to explore it seriously through this internship.

5. What do you know about Futures First?

From what I understand, Futures First is focused on financial markets, particularly derivatives and futures markets.

What interests me about the internship is that interns get trained in understanding financial products, analyzing market data and news, identifying patterns, and developing strategies in simulated markets.

I also understand that the role requires strong analytical thinking and decision-making.

6. Why should we select you?

I think my biggest strengths for this role are my problem-solving ability, willingness to learn, and comfort with data.

I've solved 400+ D.S.A problems and worked on projects involving algorithms, data structures, and performance analysis.

I may not have a strong finance background yet, but I'm willing to learn the domain from the basics and apply my analytical skills to it.

7. What are your strengths?

I would say problem-solving, curiosity, and persistence.

When I face a difficult problem, I usually break it down into smaller parts and try to understand the underlying logic rather than immediately looking for an answer.

8. What is your weakness?

Don't say "I'm a perfectionist."

One thing I'm working on is that sometimes I spend too much time trying to find the best possible solution to a problem.

I've been working on this by setting time limits and first focusing on getting a correct and practical solution before trying to optimize it.

9. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

In five years, I want to be someone who has developed strong analytical and decision-making skills and has a deep understanding of the domain I'm working in.

At this stage, I'm more focused on learning, gaining experience, and becoming really good at solving difficult problems rather than deciding on a specific title.

10. What motivates you?

I'm motivated by challenging problems and the process of improving at something.

When I initially don't understand something but gradually figure it out and become better at it, that's very satisfying for me.

11. Tell me about a failure.

One thing I've experienced is that sometimes I underestimated how much time a project or problem would require.

It taught me to break larger tasks into smaller milestones and track my progress instead of assuming I could complete everything at once.

12. How do you handle pressure?

I try to stay calm and break the problem down.

Instead of thinking about the entire situation at once, I identify what needs to be done immediately, prioritize it, and work step by step.

My experience with competitive programming and technical projects has helped me become more comfortable working under time constraints.

13. How do you make decisions with incomplete information?

I first identify what information I have and what information is missing.

Then I consider the possible outcomes and the risk associated with each decision.

I wouldn't try to make a decision with absolute certainty because that's often impossible. I would make the best decision based on the available information and update it if new information becomes available.

This is a very good answer for Futures First.

14. Are you comfortable working from office in Kolkata?

Yes, I'm comfortable working from the Kolkata office.

15. Are you comfortable with a 4 to 6 month internship?

Yes, absolutely. I'm comfortable with the internship duration.

16. Are you interested in a career in financial markets?

Yes, I'm genuinely interested in exploring it.

I'm still at the learning stage, so I don't want to claim that I already have deep expertise in financial markets. But I'm very interested in learning about derivatives, market behavior, and quantitative decision-making and seeing how well my analytical skills translate into this field.

This is much better than pretending you're already a trader.

17. If you get a software engineering offer, would you leave Futures First?

I wouldn't want to make a decision based only on the job title.

If I join Futures First, I would want to genuinely learn and contribute during the internship. If I find that I enjoy the domain and perform well in it, I would definitely consider building my career in this direction.

18. What would you do if your decision was wrong?

First, I would try to understand why the decision was wrong rather than becoming emotionally attached to it.

I would look at the assumptions I made, identify what I missed, and use that information to improve my next decision.

I think learning from incorrect decisions is just as important as learning from successful ones.

2. Finance Questions

19. What is a financial market?

A financial market is a marketplace where financial assets such as stocks, bonds, currencies, and derivatives are bought and sold.

20. What is a stock?

A stock represents ownership in a company. When you buy a company's stock, you own a small portion of that company.

21. What is a bond?

A bond is basically a debt instrument. When an investor buys a bond, they are lending money to the issuer, who generally pays interest and returns the principal at maturity.

22. What is a derivative?

A derivative is a financial contract whose value depends on or is derived from the price of another underlying asset.

The underlying could be a stock, commodity, currency, interest rate, or index.

Futures and options are examples of derivatives.

23. What is a futures contract?

A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell an underlying asset at a predetermined price on a specified future date.

Simple example:

If I agree today to buy something for ₹100 at a future date, and its price later becomes ₹120, the contract has value to me because I can effectively buy it at ₹100.

24. What is an option?

An option gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset at a predetermined price within a specified period or at a specified expiry, depending on the contract.

25. Futures vs options?

Futures Options

Both parties have an obligation Buyer has a right, not an obligation

Generally requires margin Buyer pays a premium

Both sides are committed to the contract Buyer can choose not to exercise

Interview answer:

The key difference is that a futures contract creates an obligation for both parties, while an option gives the buyer a right but not an obligation. The option buyer pays a premium for that right.

26. What is a call option?

A call option gives the buyer the right to buy an underlying asset at a predetermined strike price.

Usually, a buyer purchases a call when they expect the underlying price to rise.

27. What is a put option?

A put option gives the buyer the right to sell an underlying asset at a predetermined strike price.

Usually, a buyer purchases a put when they expect the underlying price to fall.

28. What is leverage?

Leverage allows you to control a larger position using a smaller amount of capital.

It can increase potential returns, but it also increases potential losses.

29. What is margin?

Margin is the amount of money that a trader needs to deposit to open or maintain a leveraged position, particularly in futures trading.

It acts as a form of security against potential losses.

30. What is hedging?

Hedging means taking a position that helps reduce the risk of an unfavorable price movement in another position.

Example:

If a company is worried that the price of a commodity it needs will rise, it could use futures to lock in a price.

31. What is speculation?

Speculation means taking a position because you expect the price of an asset to move in a particular direction, with the intention of making a profit from that movement.

32. What is arbitrage?

Arbitrage is taking advantage of a price difference for the same or closely related asset in different markets or situations, aiming to earn a relatively low-risk profit from the difference.

33. Spot price vs futures price?

The spot price is the current price at which an asset can be bought or sold immediately.

The futures price is the agreed price for a transaction at a future date.

34. What affects futures prices?

Futures prices can be affected by the current spot price, interest rates, time to expiry, expected supply and demand, storage costs for commodities, and market expectations.

35. What happens when a futures contract expires?

Depending on the contract, it may be settled by physical delivery of the underlying asset or through cash settlement.

36. Why trade futures?

Futures can be used for hedging, speculation, and gaining exposure to an asset with leverage.

They are also useful for managing price risk.

37. What is market sentiment?

Market sentiment is the overall attitude or expectation of market participants toward an asset or market.

If most participants expect prices to rise, sentiment is bullish. If they expect prices to fall, sentiment is bearish.

38. How can news affect markets?

News can change investors' expectations about future prices.

For example, an interest-rate decision, economic data, company results, or geopolitical event can change market sentiment and cause prices to move.

39. Technical vs fundamental analysis?

Technical analysis mainly studies price, volume, and historical market behavior to identify patterns.

Fundamental analysis looks at economic, financial, and business factors to estimate the underlying value or future prospects of an asset.

40. What is volatility?

Volatility measures how much and how quickly the price of an asset fluctuates.

Higher volatility generally means larger price movements and therefore potentially higher risk.

41. What is liquidity?

Liquidity refers to how easily an asset can be bought or sold without significantly affecting its price.

A highly liquid market generally has many buyers and sellers and relatively low transaction costs.

42. Bull vs bear market?

A bull market generally refers to a market with a sustained upward trend.

A bear market generally refers to a market with a sustained downward trend.

43. Long position?

A long position means taking a position that benefits if the price of the asset increases.

44. Short position?

A short position is a position that benefits if the price of the asset decreases.

3. Probability & Statistics

These are very important to practice aloud.

45. What is probability?

Probability is a measure of how likely an event is to occur, usually represented between 0 and 1.

46. What is conditional probability?

Conditional probability is the probability of an event occurring given that another event has already occurred.

Formula:

P(A|B) = P(A ∩ B) / P(B)

47. What is expected value?

Expected value is the average outcome we would expect if we repeated a random experiment many times.

Formula:

Expected Value = Σ(probability × outcome)

48. Example: Win ₹100 with probability 0.4 and lose ₹50 with probability 0.6.

Expected value = 0.4 × 100 + 0.6 × (-50)

= 40 - 30

= ₹10

So the expected value is ₹10 per game.

49. What is variance?

Variance measures how spread out values are from their average.

50. What is standard deviation?

Standard deviation is the square root of variance and gives us a measure of how much values typically deviate from their mean.

51. What is correlation?

Correlation measures the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables.

It ranges from -1 to +1.

52. Correlation vs causation?

Correlation means two variables move together, but it doesn't necessarily mean that one causes the other.

Causation means a change in one variable directly contributes to a change in another.

53. What is a normal distribution?

A normal distribution is a symmetric, bell-shaped probability distribution where most observations are around the mean and fewer observations occur as we move farther away from the mean.

54. Probability of at least one Head in 3 coin tosses?

Probability of no Heads = all Tails:

(1/2)³ = 1/8

Therefore:

1 - 1/8 = 7/8

Answer: 87.5%

55. Probability of getting a sum of 7 with two dice?

There are 36 total possibilities.

Ways to get 7:

1 + 6

2 + 5

3 + 4

4 + 3

5 + 2

6 + 1

6 possibilities.

6/36 = 1/6

Answer: 16.67%

56. Expected tosses until first Head?

For a fair coin:

Expected number = 1/p

Since p = 1/2:

1/(1/2) = 2

Answer: 2 tosses.

57. Biased coin gives Heads 60%. Probability of two Heads?

Assuming tosses are independent:

0.6 × 0.6 = 0.36

Answer: 36%

58. What does independence mean?

Two events are independent if the occurrence of one event does not affect the probability of the other.

For independent events:

P(A ∩ B) = P(A) × P(B)

59. What is Bayes' theorem?

Bayes' theorem allows us to update the probability of an event based on new evidence.

Formula:

P(A|B) = P(B|A)P(A) / P(B)

For the interview, understanding the concept is more important than memorizing the formula.

4. Logical Questions

60. 8 balls, one heavier, two weighings.

Divide the 8 balls into groups of 3, 3, and 2.

Weigh 3 against 3.

If they are equal, the heavier ball is among the remaining 2. Weigh them against each other.

If one side is heavier, the heavier ball is among those 3. Weigh two of those three against each other. If they're equal, the third is heavier; otherwise the heavier one is the answer.

61. Three switches and three bulbs.

Turn on the first switch for a few minutes, then turn it off.

Turn on the second switch and enter the room.

The bulb that is on belongs to switch 2.

The bulb that is off but warm belongs to switch 1.

The bulb that is off and cold belongs to switch 3.

62. 100 doors problem.

A door is toggled once for every divisor it has.

Most numbers have divisors in pairs, so they are toggled an even number of times and remain closed.

Perfect squares have an odd number of divisors, so they remain open.

Therefore the open doors are:

1, 4, 9, 16, ..., 100.

There are 10 open doors.

63. Two ropes, each burns for exactly one hour.

Light both ends of the first rope and one end of the second rope simultaneously.

The first rope will finish in 30 minutes.

At that moment, light the other end of the second rope.

The remaining portion of the second rope will then burn in 15 minutes.

Total = 45 minutes.

64. Coin lands Heads 10 times. Probability next toss is Heads?

If the coin is fair and each toss is independent, the probability is still 50%.

Previous tosses don't affect the next toss.

If the interviewer asks "But what if you don't know whether the coin is fair?", then the answer becomes more nuanced: we don't have enough information to say exactly 50%.

65. Guaranteed ₹50 or 50% chance of ₹120?

The expected value of the second option is:

0.5 × ₹120 = ₹60

So purely from expected value, I would choose the second option.

But the actual choice could depend on risk tolerance and the consequences of losing.

This second sentence is excellent for a Futures First interview.

66. Stock rises 20%. How much must it fall to return to original price?

Assume original price = ₹100.

After 20% rise:

₹120.

To return to ₹100:

Fall = ₹20.

Percentage fall relative to ₹120:

20/120 × 100 = 16.67%

Answer: 16.67%

5. your vectorforge Project

Your C.V says VectorForge implements H.N.S.W, K.D-Tree, brute-force search, cosine/Euclidean/Manhattan metrics, rest A.P.I's, P.C.A visualization and rag.

67. Explain VectorForge.

VectorForge is a vector database that I built from scratch in C++.

The main purpose is to efficiently search high-dimensional vectors. I implemented multiple approaches including brute-force search, K.D-Tree, and H.N.S.W, and supported different distance metrics such as cosine, Euclidean, and Manhattan distance.

I also integrated it with a rag pipeline using embeddings and a local L.L.M.

The project helped me understand how different data structures and search strategies affect performance.

68. Why did you build a vector database?

I wanted to understand how modern A.I systems perform semantic search instead of just using existing libraries as a black box.

Building it myself helped me understand how vectors are stored, indexed, compared, and retrieved efficiently.

69. What is H.N.S.W?

H.N.S.W stands for Hierarchical Navigable Small World.

It's an approximate nearest-neighbor search algorithm that organizes vectors into multiple layers of a graph.

The upper layers allow faster navigation across the search space, while the lower layers provide more detailed search.

70. Why H.N.S.W instead of brute force?

Brute-force search compares the query with every vector, so it becomes expensive as the dataset grows.

H.N.S.W uses a graph-based index to search only a smaller portion of the dataset, which makes approximate search much faster at large scale.

The trade-off is that approximate search may sacrifice some accuracy for speed.

71. What is approximate nearest-neighbor search?

Instead of guaranteeing the exact nearest vector, approximate nearest-neighbor search tries to find a very close result much faster.

It's useful when the dataset is very large and exact search becomes expensive.

72. What is cosine similarity?

Cosine similarity measures the angle between two vectors rather than their magnitude.

It's commonly used for embeddings because it measures how similar the directions of the vectors are.

73. Cosine vs Euclidean distance?

Euclidean distance measures the straight-line distance between two points.

Cosine similarity measures the angle between two vectors.

For text embeddings, cosine similarity is often useful because the direction of the embedding can be more important than its magnitude.

74. What was the biggest challenge in VectorForge?

One of the biggest challenges was implementing the indexing and search logic correctly while maintaining good performance.

I had to think about both the algorithm itself and how the data structures behave as the number and dimensionality of vectors increase.

75. What if I give you 1 million vectors?

I would avoid brute-force search because comparing against all one million vectors for every query would be expensive.

I would use an approximate nearest-neighbor index such as H.N.S.W, tune the indexing parameters, and benchmark recall versus search latency.

The exact choice would depend on the dimensionality, query volume, memory constraints, and required accuracy.

This is a very strong answer.

6. D.P.I Engine

Your C.V describes a multi-threaded C++ D.P.I system using T.L.S S.N.I/H.T.T.P Host inspection, producer-consumer architecture, consistent hashing, and thread-safe queues.

76. What is Deep Packet Inspection?

Deep Packet Inspection is a network technology that examines packet contents and metadata to identify, classify, monitor, or filter network traffic.

77. Why multithreading?

Packet processing can involve a large amount of data, so processing everything sequentially can become a bottleneck.

Multithreading allows multiple packets or flows to be processed concurrently, improving throughput.

78. What is producer-consumer architecture?

A producer generates or receives work, and consumers process that work.

In my project, packets can be produced by the capture side and placed into queues, while worker threads consume and process them.

79. Why consistent hashing?

Consistent hashing helps distribute flows across workers while maintaining flow affinity.

That means packets belonging to the same flow can consistently be routed to the same worker, which simplifies state management.

80. How did you handle thread safety?

I used synchronization mechanisms such as mutexes and condition variables around shared queues so that multiple threads could safely access shared resources.

7. D.S.A Questions

81. Array vs linked list?

An array stores elements in contiguous memory and provides O(1) random access.

A linked list stores elements as separate nodes connected by pointers. Access is O(n), but insertion or deletion can be efficient when we already have the required node or position.

82. Explain binary search.

Binary search works on a sorted collection.

We compare the target with the middle element. If the target is smaller, we search the left half; if larger, we search the right half.

Each step eliminates half of the search space, so the time complexity is O(log n).

83. What is a hash table?

A hash table stores key-value pairs using a hash function that maps keys to positions or buckets.

With a good hash function, average lookup, insertion, and deletion are approximately O(1).

84. B.F.S vs D.F.S?

B.F.S explores nodes level by level and typically uses a queue.

D.F.S explores as deeply as possible before backtracking and typically uses recursion or a stack.

B.F.S is particularly useful for shortest paths in unweighted graphs.

85. What is dynamic programming?

Dynamic programming is a technique used when a problem has overlapping subproblems and optimal substructure.

We solve smaller subproblems once and store their results so we don't repeatedly calculate them.

86. Stack vs queue?

A stack follows lifo — Last In, First Out.

A queue follows fifo — First In, First Out.

87. Time complexity of common sorting algorithms?

Know this table:

Algorithm Average

Bubble Sort O(n squared)

Selection Sort O(n squared)

Insertion Sort O(n squared)

Merge Sort O(n log n)

Quick Sort O(n log n)

Heap Sort O(n log n)

For Quick Sort, worst case is O(n squared).

88. What's your favorite D.S.A problem?

I don't have one single favorite problem, but I particularly enjoy problems where the solution isn't obvious initially and requires identifying a pattern.

I like those problems because the main challenge is often finding the right way to represent the problem rather than simply implementing the code.

8. Trading / Decision-making Questions

These could be very important.

89. You think the market will go up, but data says otherwise. What do you do?

I would trust the data over my initial assumption.

I would first investigate why the data disagrees with my hypothesis and check whether there is any information I'm missing.

I wouldn't take a position simply because I have a strong opinion.

Excellent Futures First answer.

90. Your strategy works 9 times but fails badly on the 10th. What do you do?

I wouldn't judge the strategy based on just ten trades.

I would look at a larger sample, analyze the distribution of returns, understand the size and frequency of losses, and check whether the strategy has a positive expected value.

I would also examine whether the tenth trade represents a different market condition.

91. How do you know whether a market pattern is real or random?

I would test it on historical data and use a sufficiently large sample.

I would also check whether the pattern continues to work on data that wasn't used to develop the strategy.

Most importantly, I would consider transaction costs, risk, and whether the result is statistically meaningful rather than just a coincidence.

92. Strategy A gives higher returns but higher risk. Strategy B gives lower returns but lower risk. Which do you choose?

I wouldn't decide based only on returns.

I would compare risk-adjusted performance, understand the probability and size of losses, and consider the objective of the strategy.

A higher return isn't necessarily better if it comes with disproportionate risk.

93. 60% small profits vs 40% large profits?

I wouldn't choose based only on the win rate.

I would calculate the expected value and consider the size of both profits and losses.

A strategy that wins only 40% of the time can still be profitable if its winning trades are sufficiently larger than its losses.

This is exactly the kind of thinking they want to see.

94. How do you react after making a wrong decision?

I try to separate the outcome from the quality of the decision.

A good decision can sometimes produce a bad outcome because of uncertainty, and a bad decision can sometimes produce a good outcome by luck.

So I would analyze whether my reasoning was sound and learn from what I could have done better.

That's a very strong trading mindset answer.

95. How would you handle losing money in a simulated market?

I wouldn't treat the loss emotionally.

I would analyze what caused it, whether it was part of the expected risk of the strategy, and whether my assumptions were correct.

The purpose of the simulation is to learn and improve before making real decisions.

96. Your teammate strongly disagrees with your analysis. What do you do?

I would first try to understand their reasoning instead of immediately defending my own position.

Then we could compare our assumptions and evidence.

If their argument is better supported by the data, I'm comfortable changing my view.

97. Intuition or data?

I would prioritize data, but I wouldn't completely ignore intuition.

Intuition can help generate a hypothesis, but I would want data and evidence to validate that hypothesis before making an important decision.

98. Accuracy or risk management?

I would say risk management is extremely important.

Even if a strategy is correct most of the time, one uncontrolled loss can potentially eliminate many small gains.

So I think both accuracy and risk management matter, but risk management determines how sustainable the strategy is.