any hedge fund roles from someone who is both an economist and ML engineer?
I have very mixed feelings about how my career path is turning, and I would love to hear some thoughts.
Are there absolutely any hedge fund roles for someone who is a cross of an economist and an ML Engineer? Because these two are my specialties. My niche if you will - though i like the ML part more, econ is starting to feel drab day by day and hence i made a very conscious career change from pure econ to AI/ ML.
My career is like a damn mad bull - no matter which direction i want it to go in, it never follows and goes its own merry way. My original dream was to go the typical finance path - start in banking/ equity research and then go to a hedge fund. But for many reasons (and mostly because life never turns out how we want it to go) - I have now ended up at world bank.
To be honest i dont even know how world bank happened. the whole journey till here seems like a dream and i wasnt even trying - because all my time was spent trying to get into finance. It just....happened? But anyways i digressed.
The work here is interesting - I am doing extremely rigorous economics + Machine Learning and i am paid to develop cool algos and stuff. Good perks, good benefits too. But......my heart isnt in development policy.
I wonder if it is still possible to somehow enter into a hedge fund at all? in any capacity? or is it a lost cause? i am still 23 so i wanted to give one more try somehow before my career becomes more set in stone.
For background - I have a bsc + msc (top UK school) + predoc in economics (top USA school for CS) - i was on the econ phd track before i realised academic econ was starting to feel dull.
Have you considered getting a MS/PhD in a Quant field like Mathematics?
Also, what kind of HF would you want to consider working for? I believe there are a wide variety of funds with different strategies deployed.
I have thought of math/ quant MS/ PhD yes and that is actually what i am applying for right now - fingers crossed. But the truth is they are oversubscribed, and difficult to get in as someone who has a different subject background. Perhaps a few years of work/ research experience will help me out? I dont know - but i will keep trying.
And i like global macro! But a lot of other people like it too - so competition is dense lol.
If you would want something more quant-based, consider subscribing to QuantNet forums. They are considered a leading expert on the manner all things-tech/quant related to finance.
The reason I would say pursue the Masters/PhD before joining a HF -
1. Most of your competition are people with MS/PhDs.
2. Network opportunities
3. If you check out the job boards for most quant-finance roles, they will generally ask for a MS/PhD to be considered.
***There are exceptions where people have been hired on with strictly a BS. However, I think your background you should be fine. Just network around and see what catches before considering grad school.
Didn't read everything in this thread but what's your current role? Economist? Have you considered quant macro roles
Look for emerging market debt sovereign analyst roles- either hard currency or local currency- you are literally almost their dream candidate. Pedigree + IFI + almost PhD econ + quant…again checks all the boxes.
Think DSAs, BOPs, fx, term structure models etc. but using them to make $$$. good luck
would these roles mostly be at AM? Can't think of any of your typical pods / macro SMs deep in sovereign EM.
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