The programmer-trader divide at prop shops
At pure HFT shops such as Getco and Jump, the programmer/trader is synonymous. But at more "hybrid" firms, where there are separate people doing programming vs trading, there seems to be a cultural divide and some sort of mutual contempt. For instance, I talked to a friend who's a quant at a top Chicago prop shop, and he routinely bitches about how dumb the traders are and how they don't appreciate how tough it is to write algos. The traders meanwhile think the quants are introverted geeks who don't understand how the market truly works. To what extent, is this true?
