Derivatives Pricing - in S&T?
Hi,
I have a problem finding a department to work in.
I have a double bachelor degree in Mathematics and Economics and now I'm in master in finance program in one of the European universities.
I want to price derivatives but I am not a programmer. I know some VBA but I don't really like programming.
So, I am not a trader or salesperson, quant research is mainly about programming.
How do you think, which department is the best for me?
Maybe risk management, but all these Basels do not attract me at all.
Structuring...although im not sure why you want to do s and t if neither sales or trading are attractive to you; i think strucuting is acknowledged as the more analytical side of s and t, but there is still a certain degree of sales / client facing involved(as with any front-officeish role on the sell-side).
Let's picture this scenario. The client (major buy side financial major) calls your group up, asks for recommendation on how to execute a strategy (either an hedge, or a derivative with some contingent cash flow/payoff) that they have in mind. Your team (S&T in an investment bank) scrambles, first responding to ask the client to provide more details (most likely someone at director, or a least VP level will be making the call). Once that is done, your team huddles together, has a discussion and comes up with a few possible solutions. The quant analyst goes to work, i.e. sets up the model, generates a few what if scenario with PL payoffs, etc. Once the work is done and reviewed by more senior members (to make sure that the model assumptions and the model outputs make sense), a conference call is set up with the client and the idea is presented (most likely by someone at director level, with a couple of more junior members in tow; occasionally the MD would the presenting if the deal is a big deal).
Where do you see yourself in that picture? in this setup, almost everyone in the team is doing a bit of sale (need to articulate the pros and cons and make a recommendation based on client's needs), a bit of modeling (which could involve heavy-duty modeling, not necessarily programming). Also there is a need to have knowledge on how these solutions/derivatives would trade and perform if conditions change.
Thanks for the answers.
to f4tality Structuring is a good possibility. S&T are both attractive to me, but I do not have good sales skills and I don't see myself as a professional trader. I had an interview for sales at Deutsche Bank and was rejected, mainly because they wanted someone to sell the product and not to price or analyze it. It would be cool if my work would contain some sales, the problem is that at the moment I'm not good at it.
to PAGuy I would rather be quant analyst, but the overall picture is quite interesting, I'd like to work there. But do quants in Structuring model everything in Python or is there something else what they do? And how can I get there? What kind of qualities do they look for? (maybe which main qualities for an intern, sales or modeling skills, derivatives knowledge?)
Your best bet is get an internship before you graduate from your MSF program. Network like crazy through your school career resources, alumni contacts. Let's face it, you are competing for jobs with fellow students who have had at least one, in many instances, multiple internship experiences.
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