Seek a career advice

Hi there,

I did a PhD and PostDoc in Artificial Intelligence and I have no experience in finance. Would you please kindly advise me what kind of post in finance I would be suitable to apply for and what kind of preparation I should do to get the job.

Many thanks!

5 Comments
 
Best Response

1) Start reading about "Quants" or Quantitative analysts. I recommend "My life as a Quant" by Emanuel Derman.

2) Read as much as you can about finance in general. Search this forum and the quant forums for more information on finance and quantitative trading and analysis.

3) Talk with as many people who are currently at an investment bank/hedge fund and get as many details as you can about what they do.

4)Start looking at small quant hedge funds, high frequency trading shops, etc and talk to as many people as you can from those firms. Network your ass off and see if you can get one of them to grab your resume.

There is a large difference between your academic background/world and finance. It is full of people who are trying to get ahead and will use any resources necessary to do so. Hours are very long, even in trading and you won't get nearly the recognition you would in the academic community for most achievements.

For the record, there are thousands of layoffs going on within many bulge bracket firms. To simply wake up and decide you want to do finance one day is naive and stupid. Make sure this is something you truly want to do before you waste other people's time talking with them. It may be in your best interest to continue postdoc research.

 

Hi STorIB, thank you so much for your valuable advice. I really appreciate it. I have been thinking of working in finance for a quite while, but do not really know where I should start and not sure I am making the effort on a right direction or not. I like prediction modelling and I love to see the real quick feedback. Do they really use AI techniques in finance or do they need AI techniques in finance?

 

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