A career in private equity/ib vs a career in quantitative research/development

I wanted to ask am I too dumb to be a quant should I just have a career in high finance is being a quant worth it purely for the money or should I just pursue a career in private equity? should I just cross off being a quant as impossible unless I’m a top PhD student at mit with a iq of 160. which career is even better to pursue anyway? I heard quant makes more with less hours at at every level but the selectivity is higher than ib and pe? Looked all over the internet but couldn’t find this question being asked or being answered

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Misread OP first time. No, you can be a self-taught or non-genius IQ quant and still have a great career, you just more than likely won't be making the biggest bucks or working at the top firms (still will make a good living). A person who is great at IB/PE will generally not make a great quant and vice versa. These careers are for such profoundly different types of people that there's really no point in attempting to make some sort of equivalency. Do what you're good at. 

"If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 

Yeah I think I'm more better at communicating than math I could probably never be a quant trader or PhD researcher at a pe megafund level equivalent firm (maybe small ones or sellside but then what's the point) i do like coding so maybe developing but that's more like being a swe in a hft

 

Honestly a basic understanding of coding and system design IMO is just a great general piece of education to have beacause of the systematic approach to problem solving it gives you. I took a bunch of coding classes at uni (2 short of a minor but I would've needed an extra semester) and it comes in handy a lot. Granted, I work in tech PE now so maybe I'm biased.

"If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 

As a person in the field, if you are in a target undergrad and or masters with internships and projects, you can very likely get accepted into a JS level firm like I did. And trust me I'm not a genius as people not in the industry say we are. If he prefers more technical roles instead of doing politics and being a salesman he should try to become a trader/researcher/developer, we make more money per hour anyway even on sell side without travel and work on weekends. However, he probably won't be a top worker without a lot of talent in the field like IB and PE.

 

As an outsider I'm pretty sure private equity pays the same or more than being a quant trader, quant researcher, and quant development while it would have more hours. And I'm pretty sure you will have less stress, so if moneys purely your goal even including wlb ill say a career in private equity.

 

Im going to assume you have good college options or are already in a good college by this post. And I would say quant is a better career, especially if you have interest and willingness to grind it out instead of viewing it as a get rich quick scheme after seeing top 10 highest paying careers.

 

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