Advice needed: from software engineer to a quantitative developper

Hello,

I am a software engineer, and I had machine learning courses in my school. My dream job is to work in a hedge fund in a quantitative role.

It's been 1 year since school working in a stratup. I live in Paris and I want to work in London/NYC, so it might not be easy for my job search. Now i have an offer as a developper in a sell side investment bank.

My question is if is it worth it to accept this job, and have this job in my CV, and probably delay my dream job by 2 years. Or with my current skills, I have chances to get interviews.

Thanks !

4 Comments
 
 

I think that depends on what the type of quantitative role that you're seeking. There are supporting quantitative roles in the middle office, technology, strategy, and other groups. If the sell side development job involves relevant experience, you may be able to get to one of those roles. Going from a sell side development position to working in quantitative portfolio management on the buy side would be difficult and would likely take significantly longer than 2 years and multiple roles.

 

Agreed with the above, assuming by 'quantitative role' you mean quant research/portfolio management.

If we're talking a large, bureaucratic asset manager/hedge fund as the target, probably the most likely (but still difficult) route is to transition from sell side developer to a buy side developer that interacts in some capacity with quant research teams. If you're a superstar and impress the right people, you might be able to make the transition assuming a spot opens up. But this is would not at all be standard.

Or if you get hired from the sell side to work as a developer under a PM at a multi-manager or some much more nimble/lean environment, roles could be a lot more fluid depending on performance/interest. This is more speculative as I have no experience here, but I assume this is how it works.

 

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just google it...you're welcome

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