Less than Ideal Background Prospects
I have learned that given the immense and ever increasing competition for the role I want to get into (trading at a prop trading firm as an options market maker), it would be pretty unrealistic for me to land a role given my background.
Based on my background, what roles can I realistically target to eventually land a trading role if any (trading support, swe/developer, etc.)?
Background:
Non-target university
2 SWE internships (Not FAANG+ but well known companies)
Not sure if this helps but have back tested and implemented strategies from a few research papers
Zero connections to the industry
Based on previous WSO threads and the most helpful WSO content, here are some realistic roles you can target to eventually land a trading role given your background:
Trading Support:
Software Engineer (SWE)/Developer:
Quantitative Analyst:
Fintech Roles:
Data Science:
Consulting:
Given your background, these roles can help you gain the necessary experience and connections to eventually transition into a trading role.
Sources: Moving from trading into IT. Reasonable or stupid?, I'm currently an equity derivatives/vol trader: Q&A!, Interview with a Senior Software Developer for a Prop Trading Firm, Trying to move to an SWE role with non-tech background. Suggestions?, Career in Trading
Disagree wholeheartedly with the other response. You are in the beginning of your career. You are LOADED with potential to pivot and find success in a role which you have pivoted to.
That being said your path isn’t going to be an easy one, but unless you have a personal connection to the industry or attended at top university it generally is. That’s why half the kids that post on this site never make it into the industry. They give up. Hell it took me a year and a half of networking everyday(cold approach via LinkedIn) to get my seat.
My take- get on LinkedIn and blast out requests friend requests. 30 a day. Of that 20 your likely to get a 25 percent hit rate in terms of friend requests being accepted. From there send them a well crafted message that you are looking to connect regarding breaking into the industry. From there you’ll get another 25 percent hit rate and convert to phone calls (that’s roughly 1-2 people per day you can be talking to). From there get in the phone and use the first 2 months to learn how to talk the language just ask probing questions. Your not looking for a job here (you are but your probably going to be stumbling around bc you don’t know what you don’t know). Once you can talk the talk then start taking action toward fixing your resume, getting credentials, etc.. then at the end of phone calls start asking if they know anyone who might be hiring. But remember you have to close them in why your a good fit for the role prior so in these conversations highlight your strengths. Remember this is a sales pitch. Then book close them. It’s a numbers game and will take 3 times as long as you think it will and you will want to give up. DON’T.
Good luck!
Additionally, after reading your post again it’s clear that you don’t believe you can make the jump. Whether that’s from pre conceived notions about success or bullshit that you’ve read on this sight it doesn’t matter. Bottom line is that you need to convince yourself your an asset before your going to convince anyone else.
This guy gets it... the math checks out on your networking funnel...we guide lower to our students inside academy so they don't get depressed and are surprised on the upside, but typically can look like this:
* 100 connection requests/wk
*20-30 new accepts (conservative)
* 3-7 calls per week (conservative) with proper followups...
hint: software helps a lot here :-)
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