Breaking into quant funds with a military background

I've spent ten years as an officer in the air force, and while I've enjoyed my job I'm really looking to do something else. I've always been interested in quant funds specifically, and I do think I have a good enough understanding of math and technology to succeed working there. However, I do have a few questions.

Should I get an MBA? Currently I have a b.s and m.s in math from a top school, so I'm not sure if I should add an MBA before applying?
If I were to be applied, would I start at the bottom rung of the hierarchy? Might be wishful thinking, but I hope I might get something of a promotion because of my previous experiences.
Any other advice?

Thanks in advance.

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3 Comments

Mostly Random Dude

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7y

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"iammachine" 1. Should I get an MBA? Currently I have a b.s and m.s in math from a top school, so I'm not sure if I should add an MBA before applying?

No. Zero value.

"iammachine" 2. If I were to be applied, would I start at the bottom rung of the hierarchy? Might be wishful thinking, but I hope I might get something of a promotion because of my previous experiences.

Well, do you think your experience has any relevance to quant trading? If not, you know the answer. This said, the structure is very flat and you can get paid very well as a guy in the bottom rung (e.g. an analyst for a PM team might take home seven figures in a good year)

"iammachine" 3. Any other advice?

Figure out why you'd like doing it. It's not as easy as the newspapers make it to be and with your skillset you might have an easier time doing data science or something like that for Google. Then figure out what exactly you want to do - trading/PMing? work in an infrastructure group?

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I have a friend who lives in the country, and it's supposed to be an hour from 42nd Street. A lie! The only thing that's an hour from 42nd Street is 43rd Street!

mike78787

O

7y

get good at coding, forget everything else

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Authored by: Certified Sales & Trading Professional - 1st Year AssociateCertified Sales & Trading Pro

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Breaking into quant funds with a military background

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