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Coding & systems
Concurrency
Lock-free queues, atomics, memory ordering
Overview
About concurrency questions in quant interviews
Threads, atomics, memory ordering, and the lock-free data structures trading-system interviews keep returning to — the canonical quant-dev differentiator.
How to study this topic
A path that works
- 1
Start with the easy set
Warm up with the 8 easy concurrency questions. Quick wins build pattern recognition before complexity ramps.
- 2
Drill the medium tier next
16 medium questions sit in the sweet spot where most interview questions cluster. Time yourself, then redo any you missed two days later.
- 3
Stress-test on hard problems
15 hard questions simulate the on-site round. Skip looking at solutions for at least 20 minutes, then write up your approach.
The library
All 39 concurrency questions
easyAtomic Flag Spin-WaiteasyAtomic Price PublishereasyScoped Lock Portfolio UpdateeasyCooperative Thread Cancellation with jthreadeasyCooperative Queue CancellationeasyLow-Latency Order SignaleasyCondition Variable Event QueueeasyThread Local Volume AccumulatormediumDeadlock-Free Account TransfermediumTry-Lock Spinlock with TimeoutmediumCounting Semaphore ThrottlemediumFixed Thread Pool ExecutormediumAtomic Shared Pointer ConfigmediumBarrier Phase SynchronizationmediumLatch-Based Service StartupmediumShared Mutex for Read-Heavy DatamediumFuture/Promise Async PricingmediumThread Affinity and Core IsolationmediumFalse Sharing BenchmarkmediumBounded Producer-Consumer QueuemediumTest-and-Test-and-Set SpinlockmediumOnce-Flag Singleton InitmediumAtomic Fetch-Add StatisticsmediumAdaptive Spinlock Backoff StrategyhardDouble-Buffer Atomic SwaphardHazard Pointer ReclamationhardLock-Free Stack ImplementationhardSeqlock: Optimistic Concurrency ControlhardEpoch-Based Memory ReclamationhardLock-Free MPSC QueuehardABA Problem: Lock-Free StackhardRelaxed Atomic Stats CounterhardSPSC Lock-Free Ring BufferhardRCU Configuration ManagerhardWork-Stealing DequehardDisruptor Pattern: SPSC Ring Buffervery hardFlat Combining Order Bookvery hardWait-Free SPSC Queuevery hardLeft-Right Concurrency Pattern
View all 39 concurrency questionsRelated topics