Welcome to the second Cambridge University Algorithmic Trading Society (CUATS) Hackathon, a 24-hour in-person Leetcode workshop / coding competition to solve medium-hard difficulty level Leetcode problems similar to what would be encountered in a quant finance firm interview.

We will kick-off the event with an intense 5-hour instruction session on Thursday, 20 March starting at 19:00 and lasting until 23:59, covering the below-listed topics. Then, at midnight, we will release the competition Leetcode questions to be worked on overnight.

This competition is a test of both skill and endurance, with limited time to successfully complete as many of the questions as possible.

To attend, please register at:

https://cuats_hackathon2025.eventbrite.co.uk

0. Introduction to time/space complexity, mathematical optimisation (upper/lower bounds), thinking of problems (brute force -> optimization)

1.Introduction to Arrays, Hashmaps, Dictionaries

a. Practice problems #1 (short)

b. Kadane’s algorithm

2. Introduction to Two Pointers & Binary Search, mentioning of Stack structure

a. Practice problems #2 (short)

b. Rain water

3. Linked Lists

a. Practice problems #3 (short)

4. Trees

a. DFS/BFS

b. Practice problems #4 (long)

5. Backtracking

a. Tree Maze, Permutations, Combinatorics

b. Practice problems #5 (short)

6. Graphs

a. Matrix DFS/BFS

b. Practice problems #6 (long)

7. Other DSA Concepts (DP, Heaps)

a. Specific examples

b. Practice problems #7

8. Self-Study and list of Practice Problems (Example Sheets), availability of instructor

9. Winners will be announced at 19:00 in-person at the Postdoc Centre.

10. Good luck!