Quote: (06-28-2015 08:01 PM)Peregrine Wrote:
Quote: (06-28-2015 05:43 AM)PduJ Wrote:
I decided to churn in on this topic as I found it quite interesting and was wondering on the side of the quant.
About me: I'm Europe-based (Dutch). I'm basically in love with math and did programming all my life, quite sure I'm really good at it. However I was an incredible introvert at the start of my bachelors leading me to think I should fix it by partying it up and getting laid. There's a few reasons (medical, but definately not an excuse for the amount of time!) for this but in the bluntest of words I took 6 years to do my Bachelor in Physics. This makes me 24 going into my Masters in Financial Engineering in Sweden (don't have the money/bachelor grades to hit top universities in UK). Recently I had a wake up call that being a manwhore is fun, but it is time to use my math skills to make some money. Some questions:
-Pursue a PhD vs starting at a smaller firm (Dutch/Swedish banks)?: Bigger chance of hitting a good firm vs being done at the age of 29, even though I'll probably enjoy it depending on the city.
-Chance of going international: Is Wall Street as a quant still an option, what stepping stones are needed to reach NYC? Frankfurt/London?
-Amount of weekly hours for a quant, I've heard stories ranging from 50-80. What are the factors that influence this?
-Any other skills required?: C++, MATLAB and recently Python. Really interested in math applied to computational scenarios. Good social skills, especially for someone so deep into math. I do think the competition at the top tier is quite immense, so not 100% sure what'll suffice.
Absolutely start working rather than go for a PhD. If you go for the PhD, you'd better do internships at the same time. Work experience is king. This is non-negotiable.
Wall Street as a quant is certainly an option. There are no cut and dry stepping stones to get there - it's all about the networking and how good you are.
Weekly hours depend on the firm's culture. 50 to 80 is a good ballpark. The more you make, the longer you will probably be working.
Your skill set sounds good, and the good social skills are a big plus. A lot of the best quants downright make people feel uncomfortable. That said, if your goal is Wall Street quant, then you'd better be amongst the best.
Definitely very helpful reply, thanks a lot!