Switching from Software Engineering to Trading

I did an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from NC State, and I graduated last May. I've started a job at a FAANG company in the field of compiler engineering, and honestly I don't enjoy this as much as I once did. I know it's pretty early in my professional career, but I genuinely don't see myself climbing up the ranks at this company in the field of software engineering. I'd like to explore trading as a potential career, and I'm not really sure how to get there. I have competed in trading competitions, and traded on my own, and have really enjoyed it.

Would a masters from Duke in Computer Science help me get there? Duke's connections, the relationship optiver has with Duke, and the overall vibe of the place attracts me to this degree, but I'm pretty sure the degree has nothing to do with trading at all. The reason I am more comfortable pursuing a degree in Computer Science than Financial Engineering at a school like Princeton is because Duke is in state, and computer science is what I already have a background in (from a research perspective, an academic/course perspective, and a job perspective).

TLDR: Would a masters degree from Duke in computer science, or econ + computer science help me switch from software engineering to trading with the connections Duke offers, or is a financial engineering masters only advised route for someone in my position?

5 Comments
 
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Statistics major is better than CS for trading. The top prop trading firms will grill you on stats. Leetcode questions is rarely asked. Also the most annoying CS course — operating system, networks etc, you won’t need those for trading, why wasting time on it.

 

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