Google, Bending Spoons and Quadrature. Meet Arina.
After getting embarrassed in coding class, Arina started competitive programming. This led her to intern at BitDefender, Bending Spoons, even Google. After EPFL, she now works in quant in London.
Studies: MSc Data Science @ EPFL ‘23, BSc Computer Science @ Universitatea Politehnica din Bucuresti ‘21
Experiences: Quadrature, Bending Spoons, Google, BitDefender, IBM
Origin: Romania
Links: LinkedIn
Growing up in Romania & competitive programming
Where did you grow up and what did you study?
I grew up in Bucharest, Romania. I did my bachelor’s there in computer engineering and then moved to EPFL for my master’s.
Why did you start programming?
This is actually a pretty nice story because I think the whole reason why I’m doing software engineering right now is because on my first day of high school, in my programming class, the teacher asked me a simple question about what a line of code would do. It was something like x = x + 3
. Coming from a math background, I was confused because that didn’t seem to make sense. I got the answer wrong, everyone laughed, and I felt really bad. So I decided I needed to learn programming.
I started getting better because I was studying a lot. Then one day I decided to try my luck at programming Olympiads. I posted on a forum looking for help, and a guy replied who became my mentor for the next few months. We’ve reconnected and he’s now working in London as well.
Are Olympiads common in Romania?
Olympiads are practically a rite of passage for any Romanian with even a hint of talent in any field. We seem to have Olympiads for just about everything imaginable. If you meet a Romanian in Switzerland, a good conversation starter would be to ask them which Olympiad they participated in.
Bachelors and Internships
During your bachelor’s in Romania, were you mostly focused on studying or did you have side projects?
During my bachelor’s, I participated in a lot of projects, which is something I didn’t have as much time for at EPFL. For example, I worked on an app for about two years that was supposed to automate the blood donation process in Romania, but nothing came out of it in the end, as the bureaucracy involved proved to be quite a big challenge. Nonetheless, it was still a valuable experience.
You did an impressive number of internships, at IBM, BitDefender, Google and more. What motivated you to do so many?
I think I was very competitive, even in university. After the first year, I had one of the highest GPAs. I remember I did my first internship when I was 19, and my colleagues were making fun of me, asking if I was still a minor. I started doing internships because it felt like the next big move for my career.
Doing internships during your bachelor’s is also something that’s quite encouraged in Romania. Many students don’t fare well financially, so they’re looking for ways to support their studies.
How did you prepare for all your coding interviews?
When I first started interviewing, I think what helped me a lot was my background in competitive programming. That still helps me now because I don’t need as much time to prepare since I still remember most of the problem patterns and approaches.
University doesn’t really teach you much about competitive programming, so it proved to be a significant advantage when interviewing. To give you a number, I feel like around 100 problems are enough to master any topic that may come up in an interview.
Joining EPFL for the masters
Why did you decide to go to EPFL for your master’s?
When I started my bachelor’s, I saw a newspaper article about Romanian students at EPFL. That’s how I found out about the university in the first place. That article had a special place in my mind throughout my bachelor’s. Whenever someone asked why I was fighting for a high GPA, I told them it was because I wanted to get into EPFL and needed a certain grade.
How was your experience at EPFL? Did it live up to your expectations?
It was really stressful. When I first got into EPFL, a friend told me something that stuck with me: if you manage to graduate from here, you'll truly appreciate that diploma because of the effort you put in to earn it.
For me, it was a huge difference from what I was used to in my bachelor’s, which was more project-oriented. Exams weren’t worth more than 40% of the grade there. But at EPFL, most courses were theory-oriented, so you had to study every week or you’d end up falling behind. I wasn’t used to this sort of approach.
How did you approach studying - were you keeping up with courses or cramming before exams?
During my first year, I tried to study only before exams. But in the second year, I found that it was too much. I ended up spending like three weeks without going out, just studying indoors, and it felt pretty lonely. So, in my second year, I aimed to study more regularly throughout the semester.
You considered doing a PhD. What made you decide against it?
Part of it was my own personal pressure during my time at EPFL. But also, every single PhD student seemed to be under a lot of strain. Most people I talked to were glad they pursued their PhD, but also relieved when it was done. I wanted to dive into more hands-on work rather than staying in academia.
Working at Quadrature, an algorithmic trader
You’re working full-time at Quadrature now. Why did you choose this job, given you likely had many opportunities?
I wanted to work in a hedge fund because the development process is much faster-paced than at big tech companies. In big tech, making a change involves going through thousands of reviews, and even then, the impact is often relatively small compared to the overall product.
Whereas in hedge funds, you have a lot more responsibility and autonomy, and you can actually see how your changes have an impact on how well the company is doing. Plus, I'm quite intrigued by the secrecy of research. In finance, people are constantly trying to come up with new approaches to outperform others without knowing what others are up to.
What brings you value in your work? Is it getting to work on hard problems and making an impact?
I really like competitive programming because it resembles logic problems and puzzles, which I loved as a child. Working for a hedge fund is the most similar experience you can get as a software engineer, because in many situations, you’re working on a problem no one has solved before and evaluating which solutions you have.
Academia vs Industry
Having interned at several companies, how does working in industry compare to research or studying?
I think it’s completely different. Now that I’ve started working full-time, I feel the need to do a bit more research, because when you’re in university, you’re kind of forced to stay up-to-date with every new development.
At the same time, I think working teaches much better coding practices because I’m collaborating with people who have a lot more experience than me. I would say both are useful and I’m really happy that I did so many internships during my bachelor’s.
How does working full-time compare to being a student? Anything you miss about student life?
One of the biggest differences, which I was looking forward to, is that now when I have a weekend or go home from work, I’m not going to do anything work-related. Whereas EPFL felt more like an all-the-time job.
Something I miss is that at EPFL, you could meet a lot of people constantly. You had group projects and courses your friends weren’t taking. That doesn’t really happen once you start working, since you’re usually with the same team all the time.
Thoughts & ambitions for the future
How does London compare to Lausanne? Do you think you’ll stay in London long-term?
London is much better than Lausanne in my opinion. It’s noisier but also full of life. I miss the lake in Lausanne though. There was a time when I was working in Geneva and my colleagues and I would go swimming in the lake during our lunch break and then come back to work. That’s not something you can do in London.
What are your plans for the future? Continue in quant finance, join or start a company, go back to academia?
The most likely path is that I’ll continue working for a hedge fund, because I actually really like it so far.
Ideally, I’d want to work at a relatively small company so I can see that my work is having an impact. Starting my own company is always something I’m going to have in the back of my mind, but the issue is finding the time for it now.
Advice for the readers
Any advice you’d give your younger self or others studying computer science?
I think some things I did really well were starting internships as soon as possible, because that helped me get future opportunities. I would have spent more time working on my own projects and startups though, because even though everyone told me I wouldn’t have time for that later, I didn’t believe them. But it turns out they were right.
I’d also say to socialize as much as possible because the opportunities are much fewer after university. Participate in competitions like hackathons and programming contests, those are really fun and help with building long-lasting friendships.
Closing Notes
Hope you enjoyed this week’s post! As always, let me know what you think of this blog! Feel free to also message feedback to me on LinkedIn:
What guests should I feature next? Anyone you recommend?
What questions should I ask them (more studies-related? more internships-related? more general advice-related?)
Next week, I’m featuring a super inspiring graduate - they built a FPV Drone Motion Controller during EPFL, exited to DJI, joined Tesla and currently are building a company in YCombinator 🤯 - so definitely stay tuned!!