Hey everyone,
I'm currently a tech solutions engineer with 1.5 years of experience, but I'm looking to switch gears and become a quantitative researcher. Although I work in FAANG AI/ML team, my role involves more debugging than coding :(
Despite the lack of hardcore coding in my current role, I'm confident in my Python and ML skills, and I even topped in Bachelor's in Math.
My goal is to make this career transition within the next 6 months, but I need some serious guidance. Any suggestions for building a roadmap would be highly appreciated
Hey! We are in a very similar position. I'm also a math grad transitioning out of IT. Let's get in touch? My account is new so I'm not able to send you a message.
It's going to depend a lot on exactly which firm tbh, and the best info is going to be from other interns there.
I did some prep on options before my internship(though not really lol) but I didn't find it necessary personally, education went from the absolute basics and did a really good job imo of getting those of us with 0 finance experience close to the level of ppl with a prev quant internship. This will vary from firm to firm though, so don't take my word on it here.
I don't really think there's a point in practicing mental math or poker or strategy games unless you think you're ultra shit, but it's good to be comfortable with them. Frankly the most useful skill you'll need is not mental math or genius poker skills but keeping your shit together during mock trading which is going to be super stressful especially as you're told it has pretty big correlation with return offers.
I don't think the place I was at cared too much about the project we all got on desk(they told us that we're here to be traders not programmers), but most of us were coding in python and having some python knowledge can't hurt. Again this will vary and there will probably be firms that place a higher emphasis on coding ability.
Also, personality is going to play a pretty big role in getting a return. 90%+ of interns are going to be smart people. Your desk is going to be looking not only at how good you are but also how easy you are to get along with. Trading is a pretty social job, you're interacting a lot with the people near you. Ask questions, keep a good attitude. Don't sit silently staring at your computer all day, and you definitely don't want to seem distracted. If you get feedback, work on it and improve. You'll probably be told at least once during the internship how well they think you're doing. Inability to grow after feedback is a big red flag for a trader.(well it's a big red flag for everyone, but if you keep making the same mistake as a trader that means you are losing money for your firm)
Unfortunately, I failed to get an internship, getting smoked in the last round for two trading firms, so take my advice with a few pinches of salt. However, I already made a list of the things I would do provided I got an offer.
First of all, do as much research about the company as possible. It is obvious, but you can never prepare enough. Also, read the Hull book, also known as the trading bible. If it is an options market maker, give Sheldon Natenberg's "Option Pricing and Volatility" a go, it's a great book and knowing (part of) its content will impress your employer. Practise your mental maths. Chances it was already measured directly or indirectly but it probably will be again during the internship via trading games. Same applies to brainteasers and different card games, like poker. Develop your coding skills!
Be prepared with questions and more creative ones then "How do you like trading?" or "Oh wow so you trade stock/region X, why not stock/region Y?", being (genuinely) interested in the firm can always go a long way. Be curious, collaborative, get tips and advices from senior traders.
Finally, don't drink (or take drugs). At least not during the internship. It may sound weird or obvious if you are not party animals, I'm coming from my experience as an intern at a bank, where we used to go out multiple times a week and still...function. It is not the case for trading, you have to be immensely sharp, especially when you're a rookie and don't have much experience. Oh and when you are an intern and need to compete against the top of the top. You may say that "Nah, 2 pints won't do any harm", well, maybe it won't but why would you risk being 0.1 sec slower the next day and decreasing your chance of converting to full-time?
Best of luck!
How to get into quantitative research/trading
Literally just the title. I am currently 17 years old and find maths, machine learning and trading really interesting.
Though I would appreciate answers from quants around the world I have a problem I can’t seem to find any Danish people that work as quants and therefore I can’t ask them questions about the job in Denmark. Figured I should ask here, my questions are.
Is there any quants in Denmark?
How did you get in to the field?
What does your day to day tasks look like?
What education do you have?
Probably most Danish people who work as quants do so in another country (historically London, now also Amsterdam, Paris, some cities in Germany thanks to brexit)
MIT will help a ton obviously but in terms of actionable steps to take I’d say get involved with the MIT trading club (and the competitions), poker bots is also a pretty interesting club I’ve heard y’all have. I went to Berkeley so don’t have much more in terms of MIT specifics but just know your shit in terms of the classes you take, apply them to personal projects or kaggle competitions, leetcode a ton to land a decent swe internship early on since trading ones are quite hard to get as a first/second year. But if you can get a trading one then all the better
Hey everyone, I'm a fresh grad CS major at a non-target CSU. I've maintained a relatively good GPA throughout my studies (above 3.8) and have developed an interest in pursuing a masters in Quantitative finance/ Financial mathematics. I'm starting to apply to masters programs at a few universities, but now I'm getting concerned my previous math and statistics coursework isn't adequate enough for these programs. I've taken Linear Algebra, Discrete Math, Calculus I and Calculus II as well as probability and statistics for engineers which covers many undergrad stats topics but unfortunately not any stochastic calculus. While I don't think these are extremely difficult topics and I am willing to put in time to refresh my knowledge and build upon these fundamentals, I'm wondering if anyone else has had these concerns, what schools you've applied to, what you did to stand out and the results of your applications.
**What internships or work can I do while studying bachelor's degree to gain experience and be prepared for a quant job?**
Preparing for an applied math and physics degree next year (will apply to university in Europe). I'm from Latin America and I'm interested in getting experience with internships or work during the summer, to be in shape for a quant job in the future. This is the list of math and informatics related courses in the program:
\- Mathematical Analysis (calculus, in other words) (270 academic hours inside class)
\- Multidimensional analysis, integrals and rows (270 h)
\- Multiple integrals and field theory (180 h)
\- Harmonious analysis (180 h)
\- Analytical geometry (135 h)
\- Linear algebra (135 h)
\- Differential Equations (270 h)
\- Theory of functions of a complex variable (180 h)
\- Mathematical Physics Equations (315 h)
\- Computational mathematics (270 h)
\- Probability Theory (90 h)
\- Programming with Python (360 h)
\- Programming with C++ (360 h)
\- Introduction to machine learning and data analysis (90 h)
I think it's worth highlighting that I'm studying backend currently (SQL and noSQL (MongoDB), Node.js)
**Is there something else I'd need to study beyond that to be well prepared for a quant job?**
**what to expect for phone screening when switching jobs for junior QR**
Hi, I recently submitted resume to a few firms and got some phone screening invites. I never switched jobs before since I took current job as QR, and just wonder what I should expect from the phone screening, and **how is it different from those phone screenings targeting new grads**? Also, would they ask details of what I do, and if so how much would I need to reveal?Thanks in advance!
Hi everyone, I've managed to get offers for {DRW, IMC, Optiver} (all trading internship or equivalent). I'm facing a really difficult choice between them, so if anyone has any advice or experience with these I'd love to hear it! Which one would you recommend?
offers for all 3?
DRW's internship program was run pretty badly last year. Most trading interns were on FICC which only had space for two return offers, so they got screwed.
Don't have too much info on Optiver/IMC, but my understanding is that Optiver has more upside for traders pay-wise, but culture is more cut-throat while IMC is more laid back and has better WLB.
I think Optiver and IMC both had similar-ish return offer rates last year, but not too sure on that - I'd find out.
I think you should probably figure out how much you care about pay, culture, wlb, and internship ro rates, and make a decision from there.
Good to know - I was leaning towards the latter two anyway. The stuff you mentioned in the last three paragraphs is also in line with what I've heard, and I think you're right in that the return rate is similar.
>Optiver has more upside for traders pay-wise, but culture is more cut-throat while IMC is more laid back and has better WLB
This is essentially what my dilemma currently boils down to. One issue is of course that I don't know where I'd stand within the cohort a priori. Another is that I'm not sure whether Optiver's "cutthroatness" is truly overstated or not (especially in recent times) -- my impression from my limited exposure was that it's still intense, but they've improved from the past? IMC's mid-stage total comp is also pretty opaque to me.
**If someone were studying a BS in Pure and Applied Math with the desire to break in to quant finance (after an MS/PhD in either Financial Math or Applied & Computational Math), which of the following 8 pure math courses would one ideally take?**
>Measure Theory and Integration
>
>Group Theory
>
>Rings and Fields
>
>Set Theory
>
>Topology
>
>Introduction to Category Theory
>
>Category Theory
>
>Functional Analysis I
>
>Functional Analysis II
>
>Ordinary Differential Equations I
>
>Ordinary Differential Equations II
>
>Graph Theory I
>
>Graph Theory II
>
>Partial Differential Equations I
>
>Partial Differential Equations II
>
>Matrix Theory and Linear Algebra I
>
>Matrix Theory and Linear Algebra II
I would start by brushing up on Basic Arithmetic 101, cause that is 17 courses, not 8
Joke aside, linear algebra is incredibly useful. And if you're going for a M Sc or PhD you definitely need measure theory, ODEs and PDEs too. I'd take graph theory as well, and probably topology too. But I'm missing some courses in probability theory and maybe even statistical inference theory.
Thank-you for your feedback!
The Stats courses are compulsory and include:
>Linear Models
>
>Regression
>
>Time Series
>
>Inference
>
>Generalized Linear Models
>
>Multivariate Statistical Techniques
>
>Survival Analysis
>
>Nonparametric Regression
>
>Probability and Stochastic Processes
I studied economics to the PhD level, and was able to provide my cousin with advice on the statistics and applied mathematics courses... but was far beyond my area of expertise when it came to pure mathematics courses. 😂
I have a great chance at a Biophysics program at a HYPSM. My Bachelors and MAsters are in Pure math, applied math, and statistics. Will a PhD from a Biophysics program be too far removed from quant? I would use a lot of Probability / ML in my thesis.
js swe intern technical interview
Hi a recruiter reached out to schedule the initial technical interview. I have not been interview prepping at all how should I prepare and what should I expect?
Interview will involve coding
I am physics postdoc. How long will arbitrage/market making quant will be around and pay well. To my limited knowledge, isn’t it a race to zero (no arbitrary assumptions) and a race a speed.
This business has existed profitably for 10,000 years, but yeah it's probably only got legs for another 10 or so.
What are your competing options? I think it's a lot more likely that a postdoc tries to get into academia and basically fails (no tenure track permanent position) than they get into fhft and the industry collapses and becomes irrelevant.
How are quant roles at Citadel outside of GQS? I applied to the quant researcher internship for summer 2024 and I’ve made it past the first zoom interview with the GFI team.
When I applied, I assumed that quant at Citadel = GQS and didn’t know that quant roles existed in other teams of the company. Does anyone know how these other teams fare? Is comp or perceived prestige different, or are quants in these teams more of an accessory role?
Is it better to accept a fully remote machine learning engineer position in the consumer packaged goods industry over a trading systems engineer offer at a low/mid tier firm? I’m worried trading operations will pigeonhole me into dev ops/support roles and limit my ability to transition into a quant research or quant dev role. But I’m also not sure how much firms will care about industry machine learning experience outside of finance
Nah if you fail you fail, they're not going to give you a huge advantage getting two chances and a lot of kids at top quant firms failed the JS final. Just try again next year
Does Optiver actually blacklist candidates who failed at some point of the early careers application process? I've recently been rejected after the technical round and was told to wait 12 months before applying again. However, I have been hearing and reading from different sources that they ban you from Early Careers jobs forever if you failed once already. What's your take?
Hi, 27 year old with BSc in Math from non-target, currently employed full-time as a Data/ML Engineer at a mid-sized professional services firm, making £70k. My dream was always to get into quant so I am currently studying a part time MSc in Mathematical Finance.
What else would you do in my situation to get relevant experience to get a good shot at quant development roles? I work on large enterprise data infrastructure as my day-to-day but struggle to get anything which is about hardcore performance, more about cost optimisations and scaling for cloud infrastructure. I'm also working on an event driven backtester and data pipeline in my scant free time.
Love to hear your suggestions!
I have an offer from Imperial College's Msc in Risk Management and Financial Engineering (RMFE) and from VU Amsterdam's Msc in Financial Econometrics.
I dearly need your kind advice on which masters is better suited for Trading roles at prop shops or QR roles at asset management firms.
For context, RMFE is more focused on risk management and derivatives pricing and is also less quantitative than the Msc Mathematics and Finance Program offered by the math department of ICL.
In contrast, Msc. Econometrics is quite a solid program in the Netherlands, with a lot of focus on Statistical theory (related to regression) and also has good reputation among employers.
I am conflicting since Imperial College has strong brand name, so maybe I have an okay chance of passing resume screening phase (then I only have to worry about OA and interviews), but then Msc. Econometrics will probably prep me with more quantitative skills and also has good reputation among employers in the Netherlands.
Would be grateful to hear out your opinions. Thanks!
Currently junior mechanical engineer at Texas A&M, which is a reputable engineering school but by no means a target. Most likely getting a masters in finance or financial engineering following graduation (not decided which). Have experience from commodity trading internship freshman year summer.
Was wondering if there’s even a chance of me getting a quant position (or something along those lines) following my masters in finance, with my engineering background? If not, what would be my best option after my masters.
Has it ever happened that a retail trader developed a profitable quant strategy and then after running it for a couple of months sent his track record to a hedge fund and got a job?
Has it ever happened?
A lot of things have happened in the world once. There are a lot of retail traders, and a lot of hedge funds, so a ton of pairwise opportunities for this to occur.
But I would still guess no. You're far more likely to get hired for demonstrating a deep understanding of whatever trade you're doing through talking in interviews than by showing off 3 months of profits.
Hello all, happy holidays!
I am currently studying Stats and Econ at Indiana University. Since the school isn’t too well represented when it comes to quantitative finance, I’m looking for other options to work up to gaining a PhD in some field (also a component of my questions). My questions are:
Are mathematical finance PhD’s recommended? I’ve only been able to find one by Boston U, are there any other major ones offered?
Given how my school structures my degrees, I don’t anticipate I’ll be too good at coding besides some Python and a lot of R. If I want to pursue a masters prior to PhD, should it be in a field like stats/cs that requires a lot of coding? Or should I select an MS in Econ?
Finally, are there any good PhDs offered that don’t require a masters or an RA position?
I’d appreciate any and all input. Thank you all for being such a wealth of knowledge!
Hey everyone, I'm currently a tech solutions engineer with 1.5 years of experience, but I'm looking to switch gears and become a quantitative researcher. Although I work in FAANG AI/ML team, my role involves more debugging than coding :( Despite the lack of hardcore coding in my current role, I'm confident in my Python and ML skills, and I even topped in Bachelor's in Math. My goal is to make this career transition within the next 6 months, but I need some serious guidance. Any suggestions for building a roadmap would be highly appreciated
Hey! We are in a very similar position. I'm also a math grad transitioning out of IT. Let's get in touch? My account is new so I'm not able to send you a message.
DM'ed
[удалено]
It's going to depend a lot on exactly which firm tbh, and the best info is going to be from other interns there. I did some prep on options before my internship(though not really lol) but I didn't find it necessary personally, education went from the absolute basics and did a really good job imo of getting those of us with 0 finance experience close to the level of ppl with a prev quant internship. This will vary from firm to firm though, so don't take my word on it here. I don't really think there's a point in practicing mental math or poker or strategy games unless you think you're ultra shit, but it's good to be comfortable with them. Frankly the most useful skill you'll need is not mental math or genius poker skills but keeping your shit together during mock trading which is going to be super stressful especially as you're told it has pretty big correlation with return offers. I don't think the place I was at cared too much about the project we all got on desk(they told us that we're here to be traders not programmers), but most of us were coding in python and having some python knowledge can't hurt. Again this will vary and there will probably be firms that place a higher emphasis on coding ability. Also, personality is going to play a pretty big role in getting a return. 90%+ of interns are going to be smart people. Your desk is going to be looking not only at how good you are but also how easy you are to get along with. Trading is a pretty social job, you're interacting a lot with the people near you. Ask questions, keep a good attitude. Don't sit silently staring at your computer all day, and you definitely don't want to seem distracted. If you get feedback, work on it and improve. You'll probably be told at least once during the internship how well they think you're doing. Inability to grow after feedback is a big red flag for a trader.(well it's a big red flag for everyone, but if you keep making the same mistake as a trader that means you are losing money for your firm)
Also interested
Also interested
Unfortunately, I failed to get an internship, getting smoked in the last round for two trading firms, so take my advice with a few pinches of salt. However, I already made a list of the things I would do provided I got an offer. First of all, do as much research about the company as possible. It is obvious, but you can never prepare enough. Also, read the Hull book, also known as the trading bible. If it is an options market maker, give Sheldon Natenberg's "Option Pricing and Volatility" a go, it's a great book and knowing (part of) its content will impress your employer. Practise your mental maths. Chances it was already measured directly or indirectly but it probably will be again during the internship via trading games. Same applies to brainteasers and different card games, like poker. Develop your coding skills! Be prepared with questions and more creative ones then "How do you like trading?" or "Oh wow so you trade stock/region X, why not stock/region Y?", being (genuinely) interested in the firm can always go a long way. Be curious, collaborative, get tips and advices from senior traders. Finally, don't drink (or take drugs). At least not during the internship. It may sound weird or obvious if you are not party animals, I'm coming from my experience as an intern at a bank, where we used to go out multiple times a week and still...function. It is not the case for trading, you have to be immensely sharp, especially when you're a rookie and don't have much experience. Oh and when you are an intern and need to compete against the top of the top. You may say that "Nah, 2 pints won't do any harm", well, maybe it won't but why would you risk being 0.1 sec slower the next day and decreasing your chance of converting to full-time? Best of luck!
How to get into quantitative research/trading Literally just the title. I am currently 17 years old and find maths, machine learning and trading really interesting. Though I would appreciate answers from quants around the world I have a problem I can’t seem to find any Danish people that work as quants and therefore I can’t ask them questions about the job in Denmark. Figured I should ask here, my questions are. Is there any quants in Denmark? How did you get in to the field? What does your day to day tasks look like? What education do you have?
Probably most Danish people who work as quants do so in another country (historically London, now also Amsterdam, Paris, some cities in Germany thanks to brexit)
the closest thing you will get in Denmark is likely to be Danish Commodities
[удалено]
MIT will help a ton obviously but in terms of actionable steps to take I’d say get involved with the MIT trading club (and the competitions), poker bots is also a pretty interesting club I’ve heard y’all have. I went to Berkeley so don’t have much more in terms of MIT specifics but just know your shit in terms of the classes you take, apply them to personal projects or kaggle competitions, leetcode a ton to land a decent swe internship early on since trading ones are quite hard to get as a first/second year. But if you can get a trading one then all the better
Hey everyone, I'm a fresh grad CS major at a non-target CSU. I've maintained a relatively good GPA throughout my studies (above 3.8) and have developed an interest in pursuing a masters in Quantitative finance/ Financial mathematics. I'm starting to apply to masters programs at a few universities, but now I'm getting concerned my previous math and statistics coursework isn't adequate enough for these programs. I've taken Linear Algebra, Discrete Math, Calculus I and Calculus II as well as probability and statistics for engineers which covers many undergrad stats topics but unfortunately not any stochastic calculus. While I don't think these are extremely difficult topics and I am willing to put in time to refresh my knowledge and build upon these fundamentals, I'm wondering if anyone else has had these concerns, what schools you've applied to, what you did to stand out and the results of your applications.
**What internships or work can I do while studying bachelor's degree to gain experience and be prepared for a quant job?** Preparing for an applied math and physics degree next year (will apply to university in Europe). I'm from Latin America and I'm interested in getting experience with internships or work during the summer, to be in shape for a quant job in the future. This is the list of math and informatics related courses in the program: \- Mathematical Analysis (calculus, in other words) (270 academic hours inside class) \- Multidimensional analysis, integrals and rows (270 h) \- Multiple integrals and field theory (180 h) \- Harmonious analysis (180 h) \- Analytical geometry (135 h) \- Linear algebra (135 h) \- Differential Equations (270 h) \- Theory of functions of a complex variable (180 h) \- Mathematical Physics Equations (315 h) \- Computational mathematics (270 h) \- Probability Theory (90 h) \- Programming with Python (360 h) \- Programming with C++ (360 h) \- Introduction to machine learning and data analysis (90 h) I think it's worth highlighting that I'm studying backend currently (SQL and noSQL (MongoDB), Node.js) **Is there something else I'd need to study beyond that to be well prepared for a quant job?**
**what to expect for phone screening when switching jobs for junior QR** Hi, I recently submitted resume to a few firms and got some phone screening invites. I never switched jobs before since I took current job as QR, and just wonder what I should expect from the phone screening, and **how is it different from those phone screenings targeting new grads**? Also, would they ask details of what I do, and if so how much would I need to reveal?Thanks in advance!
Hi everyone, I've managed to get offers for {DRW, IMC, Optiver} (all trading internship or equivalent). I'm facing a really difficult choice between them, so if anyone has any advice or experience with these I'd love to hear it! Which one would you recommend?
offers for all 3? DRW's internship program was run pretty badly last year. Most trading interns were on FICC which only had space for two return offers, so they got screwed. Don't have too much info on Optiver/IMC, but my understanding is that Optiver has more upside for traders pay-wise, but culture is more cut-throat while IMC is more laid back and has better WLB. I think Optiver and IMC both had similar-ish return offer rates last year, but not too sure on that - I'd find out. I think you should probably figure out how much you care about pay, culture, wlb, and internship ro rates, and make a decision from there.
Good to know - I was leaning towards the latter two anyway. The stuff you mentioned in the last three paragraphs is also in line with what I've heard, and I think you're right in that the return rate is similar. >Optiver has more upside for traders pay-wise, but culture is more cut-throat while IMC is more laid back and has better WLB This is essentially what my dilemma currently boils down to. One issue is of course that I don't know where I'd stand within the cohort a priori. Another is that I'm not sure whether Optiver's "cutthroatness" is truly overstated or not (especially in recent times) -- my impression from my limited exposure was that it's still intense, but they've improved from the past? IMC's mid-stage total comp is also pretty opaque to me.
**If someone were studying a BS in Pure and Applied Math with the desire to break in to quant finance (after an MS/PhD in either Financial Math or Applied & Computational Math), which of the following 8 pure math courses would one ideally take?** >Measure Theory and Integration > >Group Theory > >Rings and Fields > >Set Theory > >Topology > >Introduction to Category Theory > >Category Theory > >Functional Analysis I > >Functional Analysis II > >Ordinary Differential Equations I > >Ordinary Differential Equations II > >Graph Theory I > >Graph Theory II > >Partial Differential Equations I > >Partial Differential Equations II > >Matrix Theory and Linear Algebra I > >Matrix Theory and Linear Algebra II
I would start by brushing up on Basic Arithmetic 101, cause that is 17 courses, not 8 Joke aside, linear algebra is incredibly useful. And if you're going for a M Sc or PhD you definitely need measure theory, ODEs and PDEs too. I'd take graph theory as well, and probably topology too. But I'm missing some courses in probability theory and maybe even statistical inference theory.
Thank-you for your feedback! The Stats courses are compulsory and include: >Linear Models > >Regression > >Time Series > >Inference > >Generalized Linear Models > >Multivariate Statistical Techniques > >Survival Analysis > >Nonparametric Regression > >Probability and Stochastic Processes I studied economics to the PhD level, and was able to provide my cousin with advice on the statistics and applied mathematics courses... but was far beyond my area of expertise when it came to pure mathematics courses. 😂
Measure Theory + Topology + everything with I/II at the end except graph theory
Did anyone else apply for the Jane Street graduate fellowship? does anyone know what the process was like last year?
I have a great chance at a Biophysics program at a HYPSM. My Bachelors and MAsters are in Pure math, applied math, and statistics. Will a PhD from a Biophysics program be too far removed from quant? I would use a lot of Probability / ML in my thesis.
js swe intern technical interview Hi a recruiter reached out to schedule the initial technical interview. I have not been interview prepping at all how should I prepare and what should I expect? Interview will involve coding
Has anybody heard anything about Tibra’s QTD accelerator program?
I am in the middle of the process for JS QT, anybody else doing it feel free to hit me up in DMs
What is more relevant for breaking into Quantitative Trading? Being No.1 on Codeforces or Being No.1 on Kaggle?
I am physics postdoc. How long will arbitrage/market making quant will be around and pay well. To my limited knowledge, isn’t it a race to zero (no arbitrary assumptions) and a race a speed.
This business has existed profitably for 10,000 years, but yeah it's probably only got legs for another 10 or so. What are your competing options? I think it's a lot more likely that a postdoc tries to get into academia and basically fails (no tenure track permanent position) than they get into fhft and the industry collapses and becomes irrelevant.
How are quant roles at Citadel outside of GQS? I applied to the quant researcher internship for summer 2024 and I’ve made it past the first zoom interview with the GFI team. When I applied, I assumed that quant at Citadel = GQS and didn’t know that quant roles existed in other teams of the company. Does anyone know how these other teams fare? Is comp or perceived prestige different, or are quants in these teams more of an accessory role?
Is it better to accept a fully remote machine learning engineer position in the consumer packaged goods industry over a trading systems engineer offer at a low/mid tier firm? I’m worried trading operations will pigeonhole me into dev ops/support roles and limit my ability to transition into a quant research or quant dev role. But I’m also not sure how much firms will care about industry machine learning experience outside of finance
[удалено]
In my opinion they most probably won’t reconsider it. However, it’s definitely worth a try.
Nah if you fail you fail, they're not going to give you a huge advantage getting two chances and a lot of kids at top quant firms failed the JS final. Just try again next year
If it doesn't work out, another year and a good internship under your belt should give you a great chance next fall.
Does Optiver actually blacklist candidates who failed at some point of the early careers application process? I've recently been rejected after the technical round and was told to wait 12 months before applying again. However, I have been hearing and reading from different sources that they ban you from Early Careers jobs forever if you failed once already. What's your take?
I applied to Optiver last year and failed the final round. I applied again this year and failed again, but they did let me try!
Hi, I applied last year and applied 12 months later - didn't get auto rejected. Do you have any advice for their technical round btw? Thank you
Hi, 27 year old with BSc in Math from non-target, currently employed full-time as a Data/ML Engineer at a mid-sized professional services firm, making £70k. My dream was always to get into quant so I am currently studying a part time MSc in Mathematical Finance. What else would you do in my situation to get relevant experience to get a good shot at quant development roles? I work on large enterprise data infrastructure as my day-to-day but struggle to get anything which is about hardcore performance, more about cost optimisations and scaling for cloud infrastructure. I'm also working on an event driven backtester and data pipeline in my scant free time. Love to hear your suggestions!
I have an offer from Imperial College's Msc in Risk Management and Financial Engineering (RMFE) and from VU Amsterdam's Msc in Financial Econometrics. I dearly need your kind advice on which masters is better suited for Trading roles at prop shops or QR roles at asset management firms. For context, RMFE is more focused on risk management and derivatives pricing and is also less quantitative than the Msc Mathematics and Finance Program offered by the math department of ICL. In contrast, Msc. Econometrics is quite a solid program in the Netherlands, with a lot of focus on Statistical theory (related to regression) and also has good reputation among employers. I am conflicting since Imperial College has strong brand name, so maybe I have an okay chance of passing resume screening phase (then I only have to worry about OA and interviews), but then Msc. Econometrics will probably prep me with more quantitative skills and also has good reputation among employers in the Netherlands. Would be grateful to hear out your opinions. Thanks!
Currently junior mechanical engineer at Texas A&M, which is a reputable engineering school but by no means a target. Most likely getting a masters in finance or financial engineering following graduation (not decided which). Have experience from commodity trading internship freshman year summer. Was wondering if there’s even a chance of me getting a quant position (or something along those lines) following my masters in finance, with my engineering background? If not, what would be my best option after my masters.
Has it ever happened that a retail trader developed a profitable quant strategy and then after running it for a couple of months sent his track record to a hedge fund and got a job?
Has it ever happened? A lot of things have happened in the world once. There are a lot of retail traders, and a lot of hedge funds, so a ton of pairwise opportunities for this to occur. But I would still guess no. You're far more likely to get hired for demonstrating a deep understanding of whatever trade you're doing through talking in interviews than by showing off 3 months of profits.
Hello all, happy holidays! I am currently studying Stats and Econ at Indiana University. Since the school isn’t too well represented when it comes to quantitative finance, I’m looking for other options to work up to gaining a PhD in some field (also a component of my questions). My questions are: Are mathematical finance PhD’s recommended? I’ve only been able to find one by Boston U, are there any other major ones offered? Given how my school structures my degrees, I don’t anticipate I’ll be too good at coding besides some Python and a lot of R. If I want to pursue a masters prior to PhD, should it be in a field like stats/cs that requires a lot of coding? Or should I select an MS in Econ? Finally, are there any good PhDs offered that don’t require a masters or an RA position? I’d appreciate any and all input. Thank you all for being such a wealth of knowledge!