Chip off the old block

Nishant’s first brush with coding was in fourth grade when his father, a software engineer, introduced him to QBasic.

“My dad got me into programming at a young age. He’s been a software engineer from before I was born (chuckles). So yeah, he’s a massive influence in my decision,“ said Nishant, who grew up in Gurgaon.

Nishant went on to pursue a computer science degree from BITS-Pilani, where he learnt about IMC.

“I heard about IMC just before the summer internship drive in June 2023. Fred (Software Engineer – Strategy, Mumbai) interviewed me in the first round. I had given interviews at three companies prior, but IMC’s process stood out because it was very interesting. The questions were very unique and innovative.

“I had a lot of fun because it was very collaborative, and we focused on building something rather than just solving two questions, which is what most companies usually do. This motivated me to work harder for the next rounds – I knew I wanted to work here,” said Nishant.

The next round saw Nishant visit the IMC office in Mumbai for another technical interview.

“My next interview was with two team members from IMC’s Amsterdam office, and it was a great experience. There was just one question focused on simulating a real-world task that an IMC employee would work on. The question had two parts, the first focusing on design and whiteboarding a solution and the second on implementation. I found the first part particularly engaging because it required a lot of critical thinking and analysing time complexity, but I also really enjoyed the implementation part.”

Nishant interned with the Strategy team, where he worked on improving one of IMC’s simulation frameworks for options pricing.

“My project would allow traders to simulate one of the new IMC algorithms for options pricing. This algorithm has different parameters which traders can tweak for different market circumstances, and adding simulation support allows traders to find better parametrisation and improve IMC’s pricing,” he said.

“The project was a great opportunity to work on a real-world distributed system, focusing on building software professionally and emphasising performance. We developed the features using Java and Python and used technologies like WebSockets, Kafka, and Hadoop,” Nishant added.

Nishant credits his mentor, Mircea (Software Team Lead), for the guidance. “Whenever there were multiple approaches to doing things, he would ask us to evaluate the pros and cons of every approach. He always considered our opinions too, even if it was a different approach to solve the problem.

We also had regular check-ins with our mentor, which helped us stay on track and address any challenges early. The other engineers on the team were also very approachable and ready to offer guidance whenever we needed it.”

“Overall, the collaborative culture at IMC stood out for me - both engineers and traders were very open and willing to discuss things with me, even though I was just an intern,” he said.

Nishant’s project saw the light of day and is now available to traders. “The internship took my learning to a whole new level. As college students, you don’t have the opportunity to work on large code bases. And it was even more special when our project went live,” he said.

Apart from the work, Nishant is always ready for a game of table tennis and never misses a chance to pull out his menacing smashes.

Nishant’s performance led to him receiving a pre-placement offer (PPO) from IMC. He will now be a part of the prestigious 2026 Global Graduate Traineeship, which will see him visit one of IMC’s global offices in Amsterdam, Sydney, or Chicago.

“I was elated when I received the call for a full-time offer. The learning opportunities at IMC are immense. I have had college seniors who have always been ready to lend a helping hand. The company puts in a lot of effort to make you comfortable, and I look forward to meeting my peers in other offices as well,” said Nishant.