Career switch into quant trading - viable?

Question

Hi all,

Been considering a career shift into quant trading for quite some time. Unlike most people here asking for career advice who are mainly undergrads, I'm 5 years out of undergrad with some (hopefully) relevant experience under my belt.

2pct_melk · Accepted Answer

I would say with your background you should have a decent chance of at least getting an interview. I would highly recommend developing your own strategy and be able to speak intelligently about it from start to finish. For example, what research did you do to come up with it, what infrastructure considerations did you take into account (i.e.

faceslappingcompilation · Answer

no worries...you will just have to make your way in thru the side door.

get a job as a quant developer / programmer at a quant fund / ibank (there are many).  Then, after 6-12 months, you'll be able to lateral into a more investing focused quant trading type role.

Just about every investment bank is looking to hire quant developers.  When you are in a quant developer role at a large firm like Goldman, it will be much easier to get lateral interviews into quant trading roles (or you might just internally transfer if you are in a place like GS).

looking2join · Answer

Great advice here so far, thanks everyone who provided feedback.

"oumuamua"
Out of curiosity, what makes you not want to do quant dev anymore? it's a pretty cool job; you get to do some very technical/interesting work and are paid well for it with zero risk ...

I agree it's a cool job. The short answer is - I don't think I have the chops to make it as a quant dev, at least at a legit firm like Two Sigma, Jump, etc. My quant dev exp was at a significantly less "quanty" firm. In fact, all my past trading experience have been with shops that are 90%+ more discretionary.

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Career switch into quant trading - viable?

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Career switch into quant trading - viable?

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