Quantitative/Hedge Fund Related Questions

Hello,


I wanted to ask about the requirements for Quantitative Finance. I always hear that mathematical ability is all that is required to land and excel at quantitative roles but after talking to some people, they say it is all about coding now. I thought quantitative research roles would still be math-oriented. 

I would also like to ask for some recommendations on what should I do as I really feel hopeless right now.

I'm someone who is interested in mathematics and not as much in CS. I'm currently a second-year student doing a five-year dual degree in business and mathematics in Canada (My school is really not that great for mathematics but is the best for business in my country. Yes, I know a business undergrad isn't the place for quant finance but I am stuck here). Now, I love mathematics and I have been self-studying it since last year and most of the topics I know are 1) Topology, 2) Elementary Algebraic Geometry 3) Advanced Linear Algebra, 4) Real Analysis & Measure Theory, 5) Functional Analysis, 6) Some Harmonic Analysis, 7) PDEs and 8) Measure-Theoretic Probability. 

Now, I am in a bit of a pickle as to what I should focus my time on. What I had previously planned was to spend my next nine months reading up completely on stochastics and then some numerical analysis. And in my third year, I planned on focusing my time on Statistics and Optimization and getting a feel for ML and even picking up some coding stuff. 

1) Is this right? What do you think I should focus more on?

2) Do you think I should even bother with stochastic or should I go all-in on statistics/ML? CS is definitely not my strong suit and I am not that interested in it. I love mathematics and I love finance so I want to do quantitative research.

3) What other careers should I be looking at?

4) Lastly, what are your opinions on not going to grad school? I wouldn't mind going if it is absolutely needed, but I feel like I would be happier skipping grad school.



I would be really grateful if you could help me out. 

 
Most Helpful

For a job context, the most important part of the degree is getting you the interview. At which point you need to do well in the interview, which may cover some math basics and some of stuff you claim to know. The actual stuff you'll use on the job at a typical quant fund is mostly pretty basic (at least as far as I am familiar with), like linear regression/PCA/linear algebra type stuff.

How important coding is for a quant researcher (someone coming up with signals, I presume thats what you're aiming for) varies by the firm and the type of strategies you are running. Or if there is a dedicated developer team and how much they can do for you etc. Not sure where the impression thats its all about coding now came from. But if you have some reasonable mathematical ability coding probably isn't that hard to at least polish up into a service level with an introductory course or two and a little bit of effort. You don't need to take a million courses it it, but you'll need the basics like data structures etc. Ex: if you need to test a signal, no one's going to hand hold you if you can't figure out how to plot/manipulate the data or why your own code breaks or isn't doing what its supposed to.

 

If you want to because you like math, nothing should stop you. But I'm skeptical it will offer much benefit from a job perspective. Might be of a little benefit in helping you land interviews (but I'm under the impression its mainly major + GPA). But beyond landing the first job probably useless. Its more about signaling- they want the type of people who could complete a Math PhD and be interested in it. A math PhD is an efficient way to filter for these kinds of people. The material learned is not important.

The same way companies don't recruit at Harvard because they teach things there you can't learn elsewhere.

 

I think choosing which math courses to take for resume boosting is the wrong mindset, instead take whatever you enjoy the most/can go the deepest. If you really enjoy Algebraic Geometry or Harmonic Analysis for example, I would recommend doing exactly that (ideally upper grad level classes) rather than stomaching a numerical analysis course under the guise that it will help you in recruiting. If I'm interviewing a candidate who wrote his/her undergrad thesis on homotopy theory (which has no use in quant finance imo), then I will assume he is quite capable at math, and much more so than amateur who just took all the core subjects at a basic level. In general HFs look for people that have a passion for advanced mathematics and go above and beyond; they won't penalize you for the particular subfield that you gravitate towards. 

That being said, (generally) any strategy development role in a quant fund will involve a fair bit of probability theory and linear algebra, and so you will want to make sure that you know the basics. E.g. you will not need to know what a Radon-Nikodym derivative is, but you will need to know the expected sum of 5 die rolls. Coding is very important as well, and the speed/fluency with which you can analyze data/build pipelines is a key competitive advantage. The more lines of code you write, the faster you will get. This is typically best achieved through tech internships, and having FB/Google SWE on your resume can be a big plus. 

Regarding grad school, it is definitely not necessary but can be very helpful in recruiting. If you strike out in undergrad it's not a bad idea to pursue a masters/PhD. An alternative path is to go to a big tech firm or work at a bank (they hire a lot of quants for all kinds of roles). 

 

I wouldn't learn this because it will help you get a job - you should do it because you love math. 

I would focus much more on really practical things like figuring out where you want to apply and sending out applications to places. Maybe intern somewhere and learn some practical skills. 

You will most likely not use all this math on the job fyi. But being smart and good at math is generally important yes. 

 

Fugiat illum dolorem necessitatibus velit fugiat. Omnis voluptatum perspiciatis et quo nesciunt quia enim. Doloremque eaque rem neque suscipit.

Est dolorem aspernatur dolores error. Et iste voluptatem officiis reiciendis quo quis velit eos. Sit perferendis ut et illo quis id molestias. Similique et officia recusandae commodi veritatis aliquid.

Nam impedit dolore iure facilis qui fuga. Voluptatem aspernatur exercitationem quod ad.

Est consectetur velit quos inventore. Dolores quia quis reprehenderit dolor. Molestiae consequatur dolor possimus rerum voluptatum.

just google it...you're welcome

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 98.9%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.9%
  • Magnetar Capital 96.8%
  • Citadel Investment Group 95.8%
  • AQR Capital Management 94.7%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 98.9%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.8%
  • Blackstone Group 96.8%
  • Two Sigma Investments 95.7%
  • Citadel Investment Group 94.6%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 97.9%
  • D.E. Shaw 96.9%
  • Citadel Investment Group 95.8%
  • Magnetar Capital 94.8%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (23) $474
  • Director/MD (12) $423
  • NA (6) $322
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (24) $287
  • Manager (4) $282
  • Engineer/Quant (71) $274
  • 2nd Year Associate (30) $251
  • 1st Year Associate (73) $190
  • Analysts (225) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (22) $131
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (249) $85
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”