Is Wall Street for me?
About me:
I am a career software engineer.
I have a PhD in Math from a well-respected international school.
I have 20+ years of progressive experience in software.
I work for an elite software company that is considerably harder to get in to than Google.
I am a C++ expert, particularly in optimizing algorithms that process immense amounts of data. Strong emphasis on this point.
I have no finance experience
I know the very basics of finance, but certainly not enough to come up with my own trade ideas
I remember relatively little actual math
Is there a place for me on Wall Street? If so, where? What could I expect in terms of compensation/lifestyle? I am currently in the 150-250K range, work 40-50 hours, and have excellent job security (and value this security).
Please provide your thoughts. Specific roles/firms/recruiters would be nice.
Thank you.
150-250k a year in what kind of locality because if youre in houston thats a completely different compensation package than that same amount in NYC
And if you're, presumably at least 46 (26 age at grad + 20yr in industry) making a quarter mil with great job security and only working 40/50 hrs a week why would you want to change fields?
Change fields to retire in 10-15 years as opposed to 20 years. Locality is not NYC. Think cost of living roughly 70% of NYC. Also, I have heard my skills might be highly valued on WS.
I am also a bit older than your estimate. Experience might be closer to 30 years.
This is over my head man but I am sure someone will be able to help you out, you're talk about a whole different level of quant stuff...
you definitely have the skills.. there will always be a place for people with skills.. finance is considerably easier than math..
the question for you is do you have the a) interest b) energy to start from scratch in a different industry and compete with peers 15y younger.. no one goes into finance looking for job security tho. there will definitely be a place for you.. but don't expect anyone to treat you with the respect that comes with 30y of exp..
in terms or roles i'd say quant developer or desk quant role in a bank or hedge fund (building/testing models/trading strategies)
the best of these funds would be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Technologies
If you value job security then finance is not for you. You are no doubt a smart guy, I'm sure you can come up up with other ways to generate some income. You only work 40-50 hours so you have plenty of free time to start a business on the side.
Try DE Shaw they recruit a lot of non-traditional finance guys such as programmer like yourself. In fact the founders started out as programmers.
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