- Joined
- 8/18/14
- Messages
- 37
- Points
- 18
Hi,
I'm new to this forum and am looking for advice if anyone could help me.
I am a PhD in pure maths with pretty much no coding and little finance experience, trying to become a quant in the city of London, preferably in the Front Office, with hope to move to in algo trading in a few years' time.
I have been applying for quant jobs for a couple of months now, had a few interviews so far, and have been preparing for those interviews via reading a variety of books (Baxter/Rennie, Wilmott, Hull, certain C++ materials).
I have mostly been rejected very early on, because they all mentioned "I don't know enough", "I have too little experience" and/or often couldn't answer questions,
all of which of course is fair enough, tbh. I have made good progress in my studies though, and am now able to pass several rounds and have been doing much better.
However, I am at the very last (non-technical) stage with a tier 2 bank in model validation, which I was not really hoping to start with, especially considering that this role only covers one asset class.
My question is this: Should I continue studying and keep trying, considering that I easily get 2 interviews per week? Or should I just take the role if they make me an offer without much time to decide?
I was thinking: Model Val is a more relaxed place to start where I could learn the skills I completely lack and change later on. On the other hand, would it impair my future career, considering I will be paid less, would have to work my up to not just FO, but also to a tier 1 bank, and then maybe algo trading? Also, would I have time to learn the necessary statistical methods required for algo trading, or will you be a specialist in derivatives pricing?
Friends of mine got great FO jobs in tier 1 IBs even though they knew very, very little, but told me they just got lucky, and were mostly asked brainteasers.
Any information is much appreciated, thank you in advance!
I'm new to this forum and am looking for advice if anyone could help me.
I am a PhD in pure maths with pretty much no coding and little finance experience, trying to become a quant in the city of London, preferably in the Front Office, with hope to move to in algo trading in a few years' time.
I have been applying for quant jobs for a couple of months now, had a few interviews so far, and have been preparing for those interviews via reading a variety of books (Baxter/Rennie, Wilmott, Hull, certain C++ materials).
I have mostly been rejected very early on, because they all mentioned "I don't know enough", "I have too little experience" and/or often couldn't answer questions,
all of which of course is fair enough, tbh. I have made good progress in my studies though, and am now able to pass several rounds and have been doing much better.
However, I am at the very last (non-technical) stage with a tier 2 bank in model validation, which I was not really hoping to start with, especially considering that this role only covers one asset class.
My question is this: Should I continue studying and keep trying, considering that I easily get 2 interviews per week? Or should I just take the role if they make me an offer without much time to decide?
I was thinking: Model Val is a more relaxed place to start where I could learn the skills I completely lack and change later on. On the other hand, would it impair my future career, considering I will be paid less, would have to work my up to not just FO, but also to a tier 1 bank, and then maybe algo trading? Also, would I have time to learn the necessary statistical methods required for algo trading, or will you be a specialist in derivatives pricing?
Friends of mine got great FO jobs in tier 1 IBs even though they knew very, very little, but told me they just got lucky, and were mostly asked brainteasers.
Any information is much appreciated, thank you in advance!