Breaking into a Bulge Bracket with a Bachelors:
Yo,
I'm a freshman in College Right now. Interested in getting a job designing algorithms for high frequency trading systems
A rough amount of my academic background:
1. I skipped 4 years of math in High School between Junior and Senior year and can graduate this year with a Degree at Mathematics from a reputable University, running a 4.0. Possibly take on Graduate School after that if not employing immediately.
2. buckle down and spend 2 years and come out with a double major in Math and Computer Science.
3. spend the full 3-4 years and perhaps transfer to Business School and do a triple in Math, Computer Science, and , Finance.
I'm a pretty fluid programmer and abstract thinker. Give me a language, I'll usually be pretty efficient at acquiring it and algorithm generation is pretty easy task for me to do. I have an internship at a big tech company lined up for this Summer but am seriously considering making a switch to finance.
And I'm quite skilled at public speaking and selling ideas. Model UN, School President, I've done the stereotypical can-speak-confidently-and-bullshit-clean runaround back before I was actually good at the hard stuff. Most of the business majors in my living area come to me for advice on how to make presentations and dress up, rock a crowd of people. A job where I can push ideas that I've developed would be ideal. Is there much scope for that in Finance? I'm thinking designing high frequency trading strategies, coding them into super-clean-a-dumb-person-could-use-it APIs and selling the software tools...
Finance has always intrigued me. Crunching numbers, outsmarting other trading systems, keeping a keen eye for the best places to put money, and of course....
Adrenaline...
Is it possible to get into it with only a bachelors?
If so, do I need to actually stick around for the full 4 or can I leverage the fact I graduated in one year to my advantage. Something like "I can get projects done, real fast." Once I have the degree, if I can show certifications and skill set is my employer going to actually want other majors?
In the event I do the 1 year graduation and pursue graduate school, can I stay in pure math or is it strongly advised to switch to something closer like econometrics for my graduate studies?
Will the school you're attending grant you a degree after only one year of study? I have never heard of this.
If you're really comfortable programming (and enjoy it) why not try that for a while? God bless you if your mind works that way. There are plenty of people who go into banking who are not equipped to be developers.
You've described yourself as well suited for a role with a startup where you could potentially make a lot more money, why bother with finance?
I'm with sg.andersen.
Skip the middle man. Maybe do the two year route with CS/Math or even 3 year. And spend all your free time launching a start up. Outgoing & finding CS intuitive is something which you will almost find nowhere
Go on the sites and look at the reqs if they have openings.
Possible to get into BB trading without an MBA? (Originally Posted: 03/17/2010)
Aside from the obvious undergrad recruiting, of course. I've been out of college for some time, have a masters in a non-finance field, and have about 5 years of work experience at a prop firm and now a small hedge fund. It seems like in this current economy, getting a trading job at a BB without campus recruiting is nearly impossible. I applied to a few top MBA programs last year and was denied admission. I'm seriously considerng applying again.
If you have previous trading experience then you should keep trying. Other than networking I don't think an MBA is tremendously useful for trading jobs, and is mostly used for those that switch into trading from another career.
Campus recruiting is a huge benefit of going to a good business school. I mean, if you're at a school like uchicago or columbia for instance, the top banks and hedge funds come to campus looking for people from your program. If you have a decent resume, you will easily get an interview at goldman sachs S&T, and if you can do well in the interview the job is yours. This is A LOT easier than trying to get in from the outside.
possible to switch from prop to bb but seems very tough. I had a friend who tried for 6 months (got laid off in recession) and couldn't... just a random anecdote
If you don't mind me asking, was he at a reputable prop firm or one of those sweatshops?
Consider an MFE like those offered at Stanford, Columbia, or Chicago or quantitative MSF like those offered at MIT and Princeton? Much less expensive and Princeton generally has a 95-100% placement rate into sales, trading, and financial engineering positions at most banks.
Having looked at jjc's background and experience, assuming he has the math (Diffy'Qs, Calc-based Probability, Calc III- you can get this at most community colleges if you don't already have it) and GREs, he would be an incredibly strong candidate at most of the top tier MFE/MSF programs. Schools are looking for quantitative students with trading backgrounds and an interest in intellectual pursuits.
Getting into trading at a BB without connections who have clout (IE: people who have waay more clout than the little I have) is difficult, but possible. I got in as an experienced hired who didn't know anyone but I was an internal transfer from analytics, they needed a good programmer, and they had access to every detail of my work history.
It is possible but like others have said, quite rare. I'm actually an example of someone who moved from a quant position at a BB, to a small OEM/EMS/algo trading shop, to now starting as a high-freq eTrader at a BB in April. I got very lucky and it may take you two steps rather than one to get there. The real question is what have you been doing for the last 5 years at the prop firm and small hedge fund that would lend to a trading position? If you were quant/trading assistant than the transition will be a lot easier than if you were doing middle office/ops.
The easiest way as others have said is to go back to school as an MBA/MFE candidate and leverage the on-campus recruiting. If you don't go that route and can't find a position straight into trading, I would take a FO quant/analytics position with a desk where you could leverage the relationship w/ the traders to move into a trading position in the future.
djrajio of supertalk?
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