Make things possible.

Interview Preparation.
WE’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO MEETING YOU
We want you to enter this process in the best possible position to showcase your unique qualities and ultimately to explore
and fulfill your potential here. To help you navigate your upcoming interview, we’ve compiled some information about us and
our interview process.

ABOUT US

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INVESTING IN...

YOUR GROWTH
Learning never stops at Goldman Sachs. From a wide range of orientation, skill-development and promote programs to online learning
and Talks at GS, which provides access to some of the world’s foremost thinkers and innovators, we‘re committed to helping
you advance and grow. Here’s some of what you can look forward to:
LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT
AFFINITY NETWORKS
ONGOING FEEDBACK 360+

YOUR WELLBEING
We support our people professionally and personally. Our wellness offerings range from in-house mindfulness workshops to resilience
coaches, on-site health centers and medical advocacy services. We also provide on-site full-time and back-up childcare centers, paid family leaves,
reimbursement for breast milk shipping and an “Expectant Parent Program”. Please note, offerings vary by location.

RESILIENCE AT WORK
LIFE AWAY FROM THE DESK
MORE ABOUT OUR BENEFITS, WELLNESS AND COMPENSATION OFFERINGS

OUR COMMUNITIES
Our people’s desire to make things possible extends far beyond the office. Our firm is deeply committed to serving the communities where
we work and live. For more than two decades Community TeamWorks (CTW) has been an integral part of our firm’s culture of service – with our
people taking a day off from work to volunteer with a non-profit. Learn more about our commitment to corporate citizenship.
10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES
10,000 WOMEN
ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE REPORT
GOLDMAN SACHS GIVES
AHEAD OF YOUR INTERVIEW

Your interview should be a two-way conversation: we want to get to know you and we want you to leave with a better idea of
what it’s like to work here. To make the most of the interview, we encourage you to spend time learning more about us:

EXPLORE THE FIRM

by visiting the GS website

LEARN
the latest in the markets and beyond through GS Briefings

TAKE A LOOK
at our public announcements including our financial results

FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF
with our Business Principles and the core values that define our culture

FOLLOW US
on social media

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: WHAT SHOULD I WEAR?

A: We want you to feel comfortable and confident and trust that you’ll dress appropriately – so our advice is to find something that works for you.
Q: WHAT KINDS OF QUESTIONS WILL I BE ASKED?
A: Our goal is to learn about you. Our interviews tend to focus on real-world problems – we want to hear how you have and/or would navigate different
work situations. Specific questions will be informed by the role and, of course, you should be prepared to speak about your own experiences.
Q: DO I NEED TO HAVE FINANCE EXPERIENCE?
A: No. Our people come from all types of backgrounds, experiences and industries. Our goal is to build the best, most diverse teams
– it’s as simple as that.
Q: DO I NEED TO BRING MY RESUME?
A: While most of the people you speak with will have seen your resume, it is still a good idea to bring some copies.
Q: WILL I KNOW WHO I’M MEETING WITH?
A: To prevent any confusion due to last-minute changes, we typically do not provide your interviewer slate in advance, but we encourage you
to speak to your recruiter to ensure you’re adequately prepped.
Q: WHAT WILL THE INTERVIEW DAY LOOK LIKE?
A: While the specifics may vary, you’ll likely meet with several people within the group you’re interviewing for – some more senior, some peers, and
sometimes more junior members of the team. Interviews will either be one-on-one or in pairs. You can expect interviews to be 30 to 60 minutes. We
do not provide the interview lineup in advance.
Q: HOW LONG WILL I BE ONSITE FOR?
A: Your day of onsite interviews will last between two and five hours. Please advise your onsite coordinator in advance if you have somewhere to be on
your given interview date so we can accommodate accordingly.
Q: WILL I GET A LUNCH BREAK?
A: If you are here for more than three hours, we will include a break in your day. Lunch is on us (we will reach out on how to redeem).
Q: WHEN WILL I HEAR BACK?
A: Our goal is to be in touch within two weeks after your interview – if you don’t hear back, please check in with your recruiter.

We hope this information is helpful and welcome your feedback.

If you have any questions, please reach out to your recruiter.
PREPARING FOR YOUR ENGINEERING INTERVIEW

We are hiring talented engineers who are excited by the prospect of working with other great engineers in a fast-paced,
constantly evolving environment. We’re looking for people who are passionate about using technology to solve business
problems, and who are always innovating to find better ways of doing things.
We will explore and assess your technical ability in a number of ways, including phone interviews, onsite interviews
and through live-coding platforms such as CoderPad and HackerRank.

PROGRAMMING
We are looking for in-depth conceptual understanding of at least one programming language, preferably C/C++, Java, Python or JavaScript.
You may also be required to demonstrate knowledge of APIs, Object Oriented Programming, multi-threading, testing, handling edge cases, and
Front End/ Back End/Full Stack development. We often use CoderPad and HackerRank to test actual coding ability and you may be asked to
create some pseudo-code on one of these platforms, either over the phone or during the onsite interview.

DATA STRUCTURES
Software engineers at Goldman Sachs regularly design, implement, and manipulate complex data structures. Depending on the role you’re
interviewing for, you may be asked questions about time and space complexities of libraries, and underlying data structures including arrays,
hash-tables, hash-maps, linked lists, stacks, binary trees, heaps, graphs, and queues.

SOFTWARE ALGORITHMS
If you are asked about data structures, you will probably also be tested on your understanding of the most appropriate algorithms to use
with different data structures, such as binary search, dynamic programming, recursion and sorting. You’ll need to show familiarity with the
complexity of the algorithms and of ways to improve them, so try to produce an optimal example rather than one that simply works.

MATHEMATICS
In addition to core programming, some roles will require in-depth understanding of mathematics. For these roles, you should be prepared to
speak to your understanding of stochastic calculus or differential equations, probabilities and statistics, and applied mathematics or physics
(as applicable).

AND EVERYTHING ELSE THAT MAKES A GOLDMAN SACHS ENGINEER...

We will also ask you about your other qualities and skills, such as your creativity in problem solving, ability to think in terms of interoperability,
scalability, and performance, and your ability to deal with ambiguous specifications and find efficient solutions without a brute force approach.
We’re interested in understanding not just what you can compute, but how you go about doing so. We encourage you to explain your thought
processes and to be ready to justify your choices. Your knowledge of financial markets and instruments can be viewed as a bonus, but it is not
a requirement.
YOUR GUIDE TO CODERPAD SUCCESS

WHAT IS CODERPAD, AND WHEN WILL I USE IT?

CoderPad is a tool we use to gauge an individual’s skills and suitability to join Goldman Sachs’ Engineering team.
With CoderPad, you will remotely share your screen with one of our engineers so that you can both write and execute code while conversing
via phone about your approach to a series of problems. These will be programming puzzles centering on data structures and algorithms. The
problems you tackle will be in your programming languages of choice – we generally like to cover at least two in the interview.
Like challenges on CodeChef and HackerRank, these problems all have a basis in computer science and are designed to explore your
conceptual thinking as well as your practical coding ability. We want you to do well in the interview, so you may find it useful to do some
research or practice before you sign up for the CoderPad interview.

HOW SHOULD I PREPARE FOR CODERPAD?

Begin by checking out CoderPad’s Getting Started page to learn a bit more about the platform. You can also try out the free demo to further
familiarize yourself with how CoderPad works. You will only have one chance to use the demo, so be sure to take full advantage of what it has
to offer. Then, check out the Goldman Sachs Engineering Interview Preparation document for general interview tips. Be sure to look into our
Goldman Sachs Engineering Home Page for more information.

WHAT PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES CAN I TAKE THE ASSESSMENT IN?

You can select from a variety of programming languages, including C++, C, Java, JavaScript, Perl, Python and Scala among others. Select the
languages in which you are most comfortable and proficient, and which are most relevant to the role for which you are interviewing.
Your recruiter can assist you further if you have questions.

WHAT CAN I EXPECT FROM THE INTERVIEWER?

You will be on the phone with one or more members of our engineering team who will be trying to gauge your performance
in the following areas:

PROBLEM SOLVING QUALITY OF YOUR CODE

ABILITY TO READ AND WRITE CODE COMMUNICATION

We want this session to be as interactive as possible – so as well as as responding to the questions, you should feel empowered to ask
questions of your interviewer(s). Your CoderPad assessment is designed to be a collaborative effort, where you will be given guidance as well
as instructions. Listen to what is suggested and see if you can implement that direction into your work and show your ability to learn fast and
be part of a team.

HOW LONG DOES THE CODERPAD ASSESSMENT TAKE?

The assessment generally takes 45 – 60 minutes to complete, but you should allow for longer just in case. After your CoderPad assessment,
someone from the recruiting team will be in touch to detail any potential next steps.