Interest Rate Research - Role & Industry Overview Questions

Hi, looking to create an all-in-one thread for interest rate research. I would like for someone who has experience or knowledge in this area to help me answer some questions:

1) Who are the top banks in the game? How have these rankings changed over the last 10 years?

2) Can someone who is in the field comment on day to day activities of an interest rate research role, particularly for short duration instruments?

3) How much exposure do you get to the clients (HFs, AMs, internal, etc.) who you are pitching the strategies to?

4) How much macroeconomic exposure/understanding is needed to conduct research for trade ideas? E.g. monetary/fiscal policy, regulation, inflation, etc.

5) What are some of the instruments used to execute a strategy? Some possible ones that come to my mind might include government/corporate bonds, TIPS, Eurodollar/Fed Fund/SOFR futures, IR future options, IR/FX swaps, FRA, and IR swaptions? How much knowledge is needed for these products - e.g. pricing, testing, forecasting, hedging, etc.

6) How do you spot opportunities or speculate in these markets/instruments? Any personal examples would be useful.

7) How much programming knowledge is required or can be useful to conduct research analytics? 

8) What are the exit ops?

Really appreciate any insight on any or all of the above questions in advance - thank you.

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