How to get into quant finance from stats/engineering/math background, 1 year from obtaining PhD
I am about one year from finishing a PhD program in electrical engineering with an emphasis on statistical signal processing (lots of math (analysis), statistics, probability, and some coding (not dev level)). My school ranks in the top 5-10 (not MIT or Stanford but a level below that) if that matters. I am interested in a career in quant finance, mainly due to the fast pace and being able to see a direct manifestation of my research efforts. I've done many internships in another industry and did not consider other paths until recently. I have always enjoyed learning about finance and I use it frequently as a straightforward way to illustrate abstract research ideas.
Some resources for prospective QRs online are gatekeeping, claiming that one needs to be a math olympiad or Putnam finalist with a degree from MIT to even get a resume/CV through the initial screening phase. I understand that this might be true for RenTech, CitSec, and Jane Street. My questions are the following:
(1) What are the less prestigious, although still competitive, alternatives to RenTech/CitSec/Jane Street? I understand that these companies do different things. My question is for the finance space in general: where can I keep learning and using advanced math in a fast-paced environment with direct applicability to the bottom line?
(2) Besides Heard on the Street, the green book, and LeetCode, what should I do to transition into the quant finance industry and be a competitive applicant? I might be able to do one more internship before I graduate.
Don’t listen to them. You have a shot to every firm. I can’t comment on interviews preparations because PhD interviews are different
I suggest that you skim through this thread /forum/hedge-fund/ask-me-anything-buy-side-systematic-quant
Honestly, quant is a broad area so it depends on what you want to do in the future, whether that’s market making, buyside, or developing pricing models + risk management at a bank.
GS has QIS, which is a group within their AM arm that offers quant strategies and research. You can also try working at SIG, which has both market making and buyside trading. There’s also DE Shaw, AQR, 2Sigma, which all run quant strategies. All of the other banks (MS, JPM, CS) probably have their own quant arms.
Overall, I would recommend starting at a bank first and then spreading out from there.
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