Break into -> Quant Dev
Starting next year, I'd like to work as a SWE/Quant developer at a Hedge Fund/Prop Shop. I'd like to work in this industry because it seems like there are more interesting problems than what I currently work on, and I would like to maybe in the future try to get a masters in Financial Engineering, for which I imagine a role at a financial institution would look great (and obviously tc $$$$, I know where we are) I'm currently SWE at Facebook (about 8 months into it, fresh out of school), and got a CS degree from an ivy league school (although with pretty poor grades). What should I do to make myself look as appealing as possible for firms like Citadel, 2S, JS, HRT, Jump Trading, Optiver, etc. The only thing I can think of at the moment is 1. Do well in some Kaggle competitions, put it on resume 2. Get references before applying What else could I do to make my resume look more attractive over the course of 3-6 months for these places? Cheers Yoe: <1 tc: 155
You need to be super good at math master or not. HFT cares a lot about your school (well nowadays they’re extending their feeder school lists, I know Citadel and JS are doing it) Also they don’t really care that much for referrals.
Op wants to be a quant dev, not a quant. Math isn't too important; just knowledge of college-level stats and probability is sufficient.
Agree with other posters that a MSFE is not helpful for getting a position at these firms, and likely is going to be a step down as far as prestige. Best thing to do is prepare for interviews and try to get referral - since you’re basically new grad, academics and school is going to play a role in getting an interview
Ivy League CS -> MS financial eng is a downgrade in terms of prestige, which matters when you are applying to firms that try to maintain a public image of prestigiousness to attract prestige-seeking applicants. It is the equivalent of MS in data science for tech. Aside, which office are you in where FB pays only $155k TC for SWE?