I used to be a PM at BlackRock, specializing in best execution during portfolio restructures (so we weren't in the business of generating P&L). Somewhere down the line I got interested in systematic investments and wanted to pick up some formal programming skills. I then decided to move internally into a Python software engineering role. With my experience on the business side and technology, plus my CFA charter, I thought I was well on my way to landing a quant position at a bank or hedge fund, but it seems this isn't sufficient. So I've been doing lots of online courses via edX, Coursera on machine learning and data science to supplement my technical knowledge. In terms of job apps, been mainly applying online and via recruiters, but nothing has materialized so far. Any advice would be appreciated. YOE: 4; TC: $130k #finance #interview #quant #hedgefund #trading #research #citadel #twosigma #janestreet #deshaw
U have cfa already so no point in going for math finance, just go for stat
Fair enough. That echoes what a few others are suggesting here
Hey, can we connect? I have a very similar profile, and interests towards Systematic Trading. I want to learn why you don't want to be a PM at BlackRock anymore. I'm good with Stochastic Calculus, and Time Series, so maybe we could share some ideas, thank you
To claim to be good at stochastic calculus is huge. It was the most difficult course for me in grad school. 😁
:((((( no one wants that skill in corporate tho, I would love to make a living out of stochastics abd prob theory! Someone save me pls!!
What is ur expectation for TC in the next 5 year at Blackrock? 130K is your current TC right
Yea that’s my current TC. Hard to say really. I have a few friends making VP next year, I can ask them once that happens. But based on comments ive seen on blind, I don’t have high expectations lol. Why do you ask?
I ask because if you want high TC in quant trading space then mostly join good hedge fund & quant shop is the way to go and this is a process (another education or multi year hunting), vs join bank should be relative easier & though not sure TC increasing is that significant
What degree do you have? It will be extremely difficult if you're not coming from a math/physics/cs background
Oh you already said this here nice lol. I did Physics and said the same thing in my comment below
Undergrad accounting and finance and masters in finance. And yea, that’s what I’ve come to realize as well over the past year
TRIM I guess? You’re making the right motions
This may be a bit unorthodox but get masters in maths. And you're good. I did Physics and they reached out to me.
Nice, yea in retrospect, wish I had done math
You still can get masters
Honestly - doing a master doesn’t make sense at all. It costs too much. Why not just study hard and internal transfer?
What product were you a PM for?
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CFA is meaningless in the quantitative space. PhD is more meaningful. Although raw quantitative intellect is the most meaningful. Can you derive the optimal parameters for a generalized least squares model given heteroskedastic errors? Is the covariance matrix positive definite? Prove or disprove with linear algebra. What about coding up an algorithm in 30 minutes to find the optimal time to buy and sell a stock with transaction fees and cooldown periods? These are real interview questions and are representative of a quant's job. My recommendation is to grab a two-year masters in financial engineering or statistics.
Thanks, this is really useful to know
Preferably statistics. The best places would rather you have spend more of your graduate education on fundamental mathematics and statistics than finance, which is easier to learn on the job. If you have a good Master's degree in statistics or applied mathematics, the Black-Scholes model is just a particular differential equation that takes an hour to understand. But you can't go from a financial understanding of derivatives to a mathematical understanding of derivatives in an hour. A lot of financial engineering programs advertise you'll get the best of both worlds, but in practice many of them teach the fundamentals in a formulaic and mechanical way.