ML SWE to finance. Is it feasible?
My background: I’m working on creating ML models in a product team at FB, I have 1yoe, joined here as a new grad. I have a BSc from a top school in CS and Maths.
I’m starting to think more and more that I want to move towards finance. Please tell me if my reasons don’t make sense:
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I’ve been reading and playing around with algo trading. I love the problem space.
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I like what I’m doing now, but having my models generate money directly sounds more exciting and motivating than having them increase user interaction.
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I think I’d like the finance culture more. Again, I’m quite happy where I am, but I feel like I sometimes want a more competitive, high performing, slightly cuthroat environment where I’d be pushed towards my very limits and be rewarded for it. I usually thrive under pressure and not so much when everyone around is chill.
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Much higher ceiling for TC.
Based on the above, what roles would you recommend and what would it take for me to transition there? I’m open to doing a Masters in maths/statistics, but I don’t think I’d be happy doing a PhD as I find academia to be slightly slow paced and boring. Is what I’m looking for even possible?
Based on what you are saying above, you sound like you would be a great fit. I work at a quant hedge fund, my thoughts are:
1. Grad school is not required. Will certainly open more doors, but a terrible idea if your only reason for doing it is to help land a quant job. You can land great jobs at quant firms with undergrad + some industry experience.
2. Two types of firms you want to consider: HFT / Prop Trading vs. Hedge Funds. Generally, would pick the HFT / Prop Trading route if you are much more interested in quantitative problems than anything finance (i.e. lots of interesting math + stats + cs problems, but the finance concepts relatively mundane). Hedge Funds make more sense if you are more balanced in your quant vs. finance interests.
3. My list might be a bit out of date (been a while since I looked for a job), but some firms you can try on each side: HFT / Prop look at HRT, Jump Trading, Citadel Securities, Jane Street, Tower, IMC, Optiver, Teza, and DRW. Hedge funds side look at Two Sigma, D.E. Shaw, Citadel (GQS), WorldQuant, AQR. All of these hire people with your background (or at least used to), and most of them have a front office role for people with your background.
4. If your school is top 10 or so and you had a 3.8+ gpa I don't think you would have much trouble landing interviews from a resume drop, all of us are hiring fairly actively right now. Headhunters is another way to go, we get a lot of candidates through them. Referrals are great to land an interview as well, but don't matter nearly as much as in tech. Most firms will pay close attention to see if you can clear the interviews, that is what matters.
Edit: ignore this got confused with a different firm
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