Back Office Intern to S&T/Quant
I'm a rising senior at a non-target that is currently doing a summer internship in technology at a BB in NYC (not at the flagship building though). The work I'm doing is back office IT stuff.
Does anyone have any advice as to how I could possibly transition into an S&T or quant role for full-time? I'm seriously considering just cold-emailing a ton of people who work in NYC at the same company and work in the area(s) I'm interested in. I could try to set up "informational interviews" with them. I feel like this could come off as annoying and desperate though.
To everyone who managed to make the leap from back office to front office, how did you do it?
What is your major? If it is comp sci and you are doing IT, then you are fucked. If it is math or physics, you still have a chance.
Why is that? Sorry if the answer is obvious, but I'm intrigued and I gotta go...
NOW.
math. have close to a 4.0 too if that makes any difference
It does. Do you have any math competition awards? How much probability theory/stoch calculus do you know? What about PDEs, numerical methods etc? Learn enough about finite differencing or MC to put it on your res
No math competition awards. I have pretty decent knowledge of probability and stoch calculus. My PDE knowledge is nothing to write home about (taking PDE's this Fall and Spring semester) yet. I've done MC simulations to price Asian options. I've been exposed to a decent amount of numerical analysis (interpolation, finite difference methods), but have very weak intuition on any of it and so I'm not great at it. I mean I can probably code you a script to run the Crank-Nicolson method, but as to actually understanding how/why the method works on a deeper level, I don't know. It doesn't help that I find numerical analysis mind-numbingly boring so it's hard to motivate myself to learn it. Since I'm not particularly good at or interested in numerical analysis, should I not be aiming towards quant-related roles? If having excellent numerical analysis skills is crucial to being a quant, then I'd rather just do S&T.
Btw I actually find CS harder than math. A legit algorithm class is no joke.
BC there are lots of shitty compsci grads out there who are nothing but inexperienced programmers. The general assumption is that mathematicians and physicists have something going on upstairs beyond the ability to write a for loop.
That is not to say that there are not loads of genius level compscis around. I hired a former google compsci guy, and I wouldn't trade him for the world.
So are you saying comp sci degree > IT > S&T is impossible?
or
comp sci degree > IT > quant is impossible?
or both?
Dude, if you find numerical methods boring then why are you trying to be a quant? Go be a trader (if you can manage it).
If somebody told me that they found the numerical stuff boring I would ding them instantly.
I had the choice between quant, trader and sales. I took quant because I like the role. I like optimizing MCs and writing backwards induction solvers. If you don't like that then you will be a shitty quant.
If you like doing the same thing over and over again then go be a trader.
If you like having your career depend on what some ignorant asshole thinks of you then go be a salesman.
If you actually think those things then you, sir, are the ignorant asshole.
What a ridiculously stupid fucking biased post.
its said to death, but networking is one of your only options at this point. Reach out to people and try to get them to like you. Its simple advice I know but its a tough thing to do.
How does this work when I don't know anyone who knows any quants? Is it even worth contacting random quants that work at my company and live in the area, or is that just a waste of my time?
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