Skilset for Exotics-Structured Products vs FX or other liquid products
Hi guys,
I was hoping someone in the industry could explain to me what kind of maths/stats/CS skillset is required in trading/structuring/quant roles in exotics/hybrids/structured credit, etc vs for instance a role in FX or other highly liquid desks.
I ask this because I have a bsc in engineering and have to choose between an msc in stats+ML vs an MSc in applied maths (stochastic calculus, probability, optimization, derivs pricing) and I am not sure which skills would be more relevant for what.
From my understanding, on exotics desks, the applied maths background would be more relevant while the stats+machine learning would be more useful on those desks that deal with more liquid products since banks have automated/are trying to automate these roles (e.g I saw many LinkedIn profiles of Machine Learning PhDs getting eFX strat roles in banks).
Also, I would really appreciate if someone could shed some light on the current state/the future of these two lines of business (like I know exotics were the thing before 2008, they took a hit, not sure if/how much they have recovered).
Huge thanks in advance to anybody who can give me his 2 cents