Is CS necessary? Or is programming experience good enough?

So people have said that CS is the best major for trading. I've mostly read that it's because of the programming experience that comes along with it. I'm just wondering if any quantitative major would be enough if you have some programming experience (maybe something like computer engineering), or if the extra amount of programming experience you gain by going all out with a CS major is that much more beneficial.

8 Comments
 

Yeah I know that, but would a major in CS be worth it even if you are somewhat interested in other engineering fields?

I'm interested in CS/EE/Mech. Eng./CE/Physics, so I'm just trying to figure out if a major in CS would be that much more beneficial than the other ones.

If your dreams don't scare you, then they are not big enough. "There are two types of people in this world: People who say they pee in the shower, and dirty fucking liars."-Louis C.K.
 

CS should take you through the math requirements of engineering, at least that is what I see at my school. Stuff like Linear Algebra, Calc 1-3, Diffeq, and maybe some other stuff....that's all I know about this.

"I'm short your house"
 

Double E is just as good as CS. Btw, physics is natural science, not part of the engineering school. It really comes down to your passion, which will have a lot to do with your GPA. Also, I don't think CS degree by itself is good for career in finance. Just my 0.02...

 
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Yeah I'm aware of physics not being engineering which is why I'd probably just minor in it or maybe try to double major w/ an engineering major... which seems like it would be ridiculous if I did EE with it...

gaahh... decisions decisions, I got some time to make up my mind but I wanna learn all of em :(

I'd really like to do CS because it would be the easiest major to start a business with, jobs are available for CS majors almost everywhere, it seems like something I'd be good at, and because of what people have said about CS being the best major for trading... but being able to build computers/electronic devices/study physics seems like it would be awesome too.

If your dreams don't scare you, then they are not big enough. "There are two types of people in this world: People who say they pee in the shower, and dirty fucking liars."-Louis C.K.
 

It really depends on what you like to do. The only class that is interesting to me in CS is algo design. If you think you can graduate with a CS degree with a good GPA, i say why not. Also you are right that CS degrees are FAR more marketable than physics degrees as far as undergrad degrees go. so yeah go ahead and do a physics minor to satiate your curiosity, and get out of college with a CS degree. Just my 0.02...

Note: If I can time travel, I would choose Math and CS instead of Math and Finance. And oh, time travel is possible. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/22/science-light-idUSL5E7KM4CW20… 'Particle breaks speed of light'

 

As others have said, CS would be best for a broader range of careers, as it contains an intrinsic hedge if you later decide quant trading is not for you (can always go into tech etc.)

That being said, any science major should do (plenty of math & physics guys in HFT), provided you take some classes in programming on the side. Particularly helpful should be a programming systems class (teach you style and proper coding in low-level language) and some algorithms / AI classes. In HFT you have a lot of design/scripting work (even on quant side), so writing readable, efficient code is key, likely more important than knowing fancy machine learning techniques.

 

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