For those wanting to build a great career in macro/RV/FI space, what would you rank as the most important skills to focus on? How are you thinking about allocating your focus across different technical/other areas?
I'm trying to get ahead and grow as much as possible, but really having a hard time prioritizing between areas such as:
- Coding (and what kind of coding to focus on!)
- Statistics
- General mathematics (how much will this really help?)
- Product knowledge
- General market knowledge (for instance how much time to spend reading sell-side pieces)
- Machine learning/AI (will this really move the needle?)
- Economics
I suppose I'm really thinking about this from the perspective of what to spend my time on at work (for example whenever have downtime) and in my free time.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are the key skills and areas to focus on for building a successful career in the macro, relative value (RV), and fixed income (FI) space:
Key Skills and Areas to Focus On:
Coding and Programming:
Statistics and Mathematics:
Product Knowledge:
General Market Knowledge:
Economics:
Machine Learning/AI:
Prioritization:
Work Downtime:
Free Time:
By balancing your focus across these areas, you can build a robust skill set that will help you excel in the macro, RV, and FI space.
Sources: Q&A: Rates & Macro Research/Strategy - Career Path, Technical Topics, Education, etc., https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/hedge-fund/developing-macro-understanding?customgpt=1, Q&A: Non-Target School to Portfolio Manager at a Top Hedge Fund – 6 Years Out of Undergrad, Global macro recruiting - a primer, Most Valuable Hard Skills?
If you're relatively new, the answer will always be product and market knowledge. Market knowledge is just something that tends comes with time by osmosis as you read and interact widely. As such, focusing on product knowledge will give you the best ROI on time spent. The other stuff should only be done sparingly
Thanks for your help and substack again! May I ask that is it possible for a finance-major student to pursue a career at macro? I feel a deep lack of math and coding and really confused about how to self-study math or maybe have to transite into a phd program for math and code.
Second what @MacroJunkie said above. Should focus on understanding products i.e swaps, bonds, options then understanding basics of the strategies like carry, relative value etc and of course having a decent understanding of probabilty,stats and coding
DonalDayUmTray & MacroJunkie thanks for this feedback. Pretty interesting you say this as many seem to emphasize the importance of programming/math/stats over the finance stuff like product and market knowledge. After few years in the game, does the answer of prioritizing market and product knowledge still apply?
What you're saying does resonate and aligns what I've been thinking as well. I do see the merits of the quanty stuff but it just feels like there is so much to learn on the actual markets side and even learning that part takes a lot of time and effort.
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