Doing CS/Applied math Master to break into quant trading
Is this a feasible path? I have a Google/Meta/Amazon and other tier 1 tech firms on my resume with 9 YOE. I'm pretty solid in CS related stuffs already. Is it advisable to do a degree in ML/Applied math master to break into quant trading? I hope to become either a quant SWE or quant trader.
Can you compete with 400 PhDs (MIT, Stanford, Berkeley CS/Math) for a single position? It’s incredibly hard. 8 rounds of interviews with roughly 2 people per interview with ~0% margin of error? It’s better to put that much effort into creating a startup given you have XYZ on your resume
This. It's not that it's not doable, it's that it's not reasonable to depend on it. Now you have a reasonable fallback - being a swe at faang. For every 100 faang SWEs there is realistically one position at these companies. And for every 3-4 SWEs who make it, realistically 1 will become a quant. Go for it if you want - but don't depend on it.
it is incredibly rare to hire traders outside of intern/new grad or other firms where they were already a trader. I would highly encourage you to do SWE. Frankly, trading is a young mans game. With 10 yoe doing SWE, you are not really an ideal candidate off the bat imo. SWE will be more doable. There are various types of SWE roles, so prep depends on which role you want.
I think you need a knack for uncovering trade opportunities using mathematics to do well at it. That’s why these roles take math olympiad kids.