Work-life balance and hedge fund interview prep questions from a soon to be PhD grad & single parent
I'm in my mid 20s, and will (should) be graduating this August from my PhD program. My research is in computational physics, and most of my work has focused on mathematics (mostly numerical methods) and software development, with medium exposure to high performance computing and machine learning. I will be going into industry, likely the tech or finance industry. Ideally, I would like to end up in a position where I can write software and build mathematical models.
I don't think I've gotten any recruitment for banks, but I've been getting a lot of recruitment from headhunters and company recruiters for the past year for funds like Two Sigma, DE Shaw, Citadel, Akuna, etc...Quantitative research and developer roles at these places seem most aligned with what I want to do (software + math).
Some questions that I have are:
(1) How is the work life balance of a quant at some of the major firms? I've heard various conflicting opinions on this, and a lot of what I've read are people saying that quants "work 80 hour weeks," "live in their office," "can't raise a family," etc.. and some have also said that quants in the financial industry have the best work life balance.
As a single parent, I would not want to be in the office more than 40-50 hours a week. I'm fine with also working some hours from home during the night and weekends, but I would not want to be in a position where I would need to remain in the office past 5PM or be required to go into the office on weekends. Is it acceptable to work from home outside of normal hours?
(2) I feel a bit intimidated by the difficulty of the interviews. I've heard and read that there are a lot of brainteaser questions asked, and that I should consult resources such as the book "Heard on the Street." I've looked at some of these brainteaser questions, and I don't think I can answer more than half of them, and for the other half, there probably aren't many where I can come up with an elegant solution in an interview session. These questions seem to use very basic grade school math knowledge, but they're tricky.
Any suggestions on how to prepare?
In addition, I have no financial knowledge. The headhunters and recruiters I spoke with told me that this is not a problem, and that some of their clients actually prefer candidates without prior experience.
(3) I'm a bit confused by all the different roles such as quant researcher, quant developer, quant trader, algorithmic trader, algorithmic developer, etc... My impression is there is a lot of overlap between the roles, and each company has it defined distinctly, and a quant researcher at one fund may be doing the same work as a quant developer as another fund. Is this accurate?
I interviewed at quant firms like you mentioned at the interviews were hard af for me, but I'm math major in undergrad not a PHD. Someone of your level should be fine.
I don't think my advanced degree will help me much on certain parts of the interview, like the brainteasers. I feel like I would be able to answer those types of questions better when I was in high school than now because the type of math I do nowadays is much different.
Hi,
Please consult the quant interview guides (Joshi - Quant interview and answer guide. Vault quant interview questions and answers), which can be found through google. Alternatively, pm me and I can email you copies.
Many PhD and prospective applicants fall at the interview stage because of the brainteasers, which I should add is not indicative of your suitability for the role or your mathematical ability. Between now and August, really study these interview guides and be confident before you schedule interviews with these firms as you will likely only get one chance.
P.S. If you are looking for less stress and are a happy developer, I would consider the quant developer role. It is still fantastically paid, albeit less than research or trading, but there is much less day-to-day stress as you are not expected to deliver alpha.
Best wishes,
Do interviewers frequently recycle questions out of these books? I honestly feel like there isn't much overlap brainteaser to brainteaser, so the concepts learned on one can't be applied to another, so basically, I feel like unless they recycle questions or ask something very similar, then practicing questions may not be that conducive.
I'm a little confused on the WLB of a quant developer vs. quant researcher. I've seen mixed opinions on these 2 roles. Someone on Reddit said the quant developers is much more stressful because they have to be on call 24/7 in case there's a bug that needs to be fixed, a model that needs to be implemented immediately, and that researcher roles are more lax etc.. Does this vary across firms?
I'm actually planning on beginning screenings/interviews in March/April. Maybe I can push it back to May/June so I have more time to prepare, but I hear the interviews take a couple of months. Due to my son starting kindergarten in the Fall, and some legal issues, I would ideally like to know where I'm relocating to in June, so starting interviews in the summer may be too late.
People swear by the interview prepatory process so I would not neglect it. Definitely study the questions as the familarity is useful because they do recycle questions.
QR are judged on their ideas ability to make money, whereas the developers are not. Dev life isnt easy, but hey its hedge fund and not a chilled tech company. Career longevity is lower as a QR vs a Dev for sure. It does vary across firms, 2Sigma is apparently great for WLB, they are most like your standard tech company but firms like Citadel will be more intense.
Hey, I just wanted to circle back on this. I was wondering if you have any suggestions on how to prepare for the stats/ML questions encountered during interviews?
The two books you recommended, and a couple other books that I went through (Heard on the street, and A Practical Guide to Quantitative Finance Interviews) only focus on probability and math brainteaser. There is little stats/ML stuff in those books.
Haven’t gotten a chance but took a glimpse of the subject... 25 years old... soon to graduate with PhD and a single parent... god bless you.
Thanks. Actually 27. Will be 28 when I graduate.
Random question: should I avoid telling interviewers that I was and still am a single parent if they ask me about my life?
yes of course
Thank you for the article. Not everyone can find the right balance. singles are particularly hard to succeed. Unfortunately, most often the opposite is true. I recently reviewed one my site from bookmarks and read more sad stories. It is wonderful that one person has achieved a lot, but you need to help others with something.
Natus impedit adipisci debitis rerum repellendus sit. Rerum ullam recusandae aut autem voluptas. Blanditiis ut repudiandae magni tempora cum quasi nihil sed. Error est suscipit tempore praesentium deserunt voluptatem minima. Rerum ut sed consectetur ipsa. Non in modi qui.
Nobis neque voluptatem expedita aliquid est. Fugit molestias culpa eaque magnam et.
Ea quas vitae quo. Aut dolores quia autem eveniet aut molestiae. Ad illum temporibus dolorem praesentium aperiam occaecati.
Maxime aliquid ducimus maiores. Doloribus necessitatibus fugit rerum facilis. Aliquid ratione et in velit non nemo cupiditate. Et rerum voluptatem aut tenetur.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...