Software Developer Intern
Posted Sep 24, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026
Likely interview questions for this role
Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.
About your past
Tell me about the most technically challenging project you have built. What made it hard?
What they are checking: Real depth and ownership in their past work, not just a list of languages.
Tell me about a time you got critical feedback on your code. How did you respond?
What they are checking: Coachability and whether they take review as help rather than criticism.
Why trading technology, and what do you hope to learn here?
What they are checking: Genuine interest in the work rather than just wanting any internship.
What would you do
The goal is to deploy your project in ten weeks. How would you plan your time to get there?
What they are checking: Whether they can break down work, set milestones and ask for help early instead of rushing at the end.
You are stuck on a problem and your mentor is busy. What do you do?
What they are checking: Whether they try things on their own first but know when to ask, without wasting days.
About the work
Interns here might build decoders that receive raw packet data from exchanges. How would you approach turning a stream of binary messages into usable data?
What they are checking: Whether they understand parsing, byte order and message boundaries well enough to start on low-level work.
How would you find the median of a stream of numbers as they arrive?
What they are checking: Problem-solving with heaps or similar structures, a classic test of reasoning about efficiency.
What happens in your program when you read from memory that is not in the cache? Why would a trading firm care?
What they are checking: Curiosity about how hardware affects speed, which matters for computationally intensive software.
How would you explain the difference between a process and a thread to a teammate?
What they are checking: Basic systems knowledge they will need for multi-threaded trading and risk applications.
How would you test a function that calculates profit and loss on a set of trades?
What they are checking: Whether they think about edge cases like zero quantity, partial fills and rounding.
Practice this interview out loud.
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Practice this out loudThe full job description
As published by DRW.
Our formula for success is to hire exceptional people, encourage their ideas and reward their results.
As a Software Developer Intern , you will build advanced trading and risk applications leveraging cutting-edge technology. DRW enables our Software Developer Interns to develop computationally intensive software under the guidance of senior technologists with the goal of deployment during your ten weeks. While your days will have you immersed in complex projects directly driving DRW’s progress, your evenings will be spent exploring the city with organized social events to truly discover what it is like to live and work in Chicago.
How you will make an impact…
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":1080,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"> Design, develop, test, and deploy proprietary software development solutions across the firm. Examples include creating:
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":1080,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"> Decoders to receive raw packet data from various exchanges and translate it into a more accessible form
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":1080,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"> Normalizers which take decoded data and build a book for each instrument traded on that exchange
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":1080,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"> Applications to facilitate communication around executed trades to our compliance team
• Identify innovative solutions to complex problems and advocate for their implementation to your team by communicating your ideas in a clear and concise manner
• Conduct robust research using a data driven approach to employ statistical analytics on large data sets
• Collaborate with other software developers, quantitative traders, and researchers as well as business analysts in cross-functional team environments
What you bring to the team…
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":360,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"> Are pursuing a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, Machine Learning, or any related science discipline and have an expected graduation date between December 2027 and June 2028
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":360,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"> Have exposure to network programming (TCP/IP), multi ‐ threaded applications, computational intelligence, algorithms, real ‐ time programming or GUI programming
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":360,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"> Have strong understanding of object -oriented design, data structures, and algorithms
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":360,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"> An eagerness to learn and apply what you have learned, and to know the impact of your code
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":360,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"> Have strong problem-solving and analytical reasoning skills
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":360,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"> Have strong communication and collaboration skills
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":360,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"> Exhibit excellent software development skills in C++, Python, or Java and a deep curiosity to learn and absorb new technologies quickly
What to expect during the internship…
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="4" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":360,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"> Meaningful projects: You’ll receive a challenging project to complete during your time here. Each project, advised by a software engineer, promotes a comprehensive learning experience and provides you with meaningful work experience.
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="4" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":360,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"> Community: Throughout the summer, we host a variety of educational, social and team-building activities to foster friendship and camaraderie.
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="4" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":360,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"> Housing: DRW provides fully furnished apartments located close to the office –making your morning commute as easy as possible.
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="4" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":360,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"> Mentorship: You’ll build a professional relationship with an experienced mentor in your field. Mentors and mentees meet to discuss goals, challenges and professional development and explore the city together at our mentor outings.
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="4" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":360,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1"> Education: As technology continues to drive the trading industry forward, both in terms of new products and transaction methods, the future will present us with unique opportunities and challenges. To prepare you for how technology will continue to impact trading’s future landscape, you will complete an options course framed from a developer’s standpoint to help you visualize how your technology solutions will be used in real time. As the trading industry continually evolves, both in terms of new products and transaction methods, the future will present us with unique opportunities and challenges.
DRW is a diversified trading firm with over 3 decades of experience bringing sophisticated technology and exceptional people together to operate in markets around the world . We value autonomy and the ability to quickly pivot to capture opportunities, so we operate using our own capital and trading at our own risk .
Headquartered in Chicago with offices throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia, we trade a variety of asset classes including Fixed Income, ETFs, Equities, FX, Commodities and Energy across all major global markets. We have also leveraged our expertise and technology to expand into three non-traditional strategies: real estate, venture capital and cryptoassets .
We operate with respect, curiosity and open minds. The people who thrive here share our belief that it’s not just what we do that matters– it's how we do it . DRW is a place of high expectations , integrity, innovation and a willingness to challenge consensus .
The annual base salary for this position is $225,000.
For more information about DRW's processing activities and our use of job applicants' data, please view our Privacy Notice at https://drw.com/privacy-notice .
California residents, please review the California Privacy Notice for information about certain legal rights at https://drw.com/california-privacy-notice .
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