Thinking of moving to finance. Do I have the right credentials?

[Mikhail Volkov]

I am having a mid-life crisis of sorts. Need sincere, objective advice. Without any bullshit, let me give you some objective facts:

- Male, 26 y/o, citizen of Ireland, currently resident in Boston on F-1 visa
- Currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program at MIT, dept of EECS
- 2013: S.M. Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, MIT
- 2010: B.A.I, B.A. Electronic & Computer Engineering, Trinity College Dublin
- My areas of specialization include optimization, statistical modeling, simulation, and large-scale data analysis
- I have a Master's thesis and 5 academic publications (conference papers)
- 5 previous academic internships in engineering fields, 1 of them was directly related to analysis of financial data
- 1 year experience day-trading Bitcoin as a hobby

Over the past year I have developed an interest in finance, mainly through Bitcoin. I am disillusioned with academia and want to leave. One way or another I think I am done here, I want to start looking for jobs TODAY. My academic credentials are strong, but otherwise I have no experience in this field, other than my own personal interests.

(I am a motivated, confident, fast and obsessive learner. But these are not objective facts.)

I am very interested in quantitative analysis, algorithmic trading, HFT, etc. I want to know, do I have a chance to get such a job? What do I need to know/learn? How do I begin looking for jobs in this area? What should my resume reflect? What kind of salary can I expect?

I would appreciate any comments and advice that you can give me.

Thank in advance.

 

[Xianhao Xin]

As far as I know, EE major is much much easier to find a job than finance, plus you are from MIT. It won't be too hard for you to find a decent job in EE industry.

 

[Mikhail Volkov]

Thanks, but I think you missed the point of my thread. I am interested in finance and I want to get a job in finance.

 

[TraderJoe]

With MS in EECS from MIT, you will probably get some good interviews in HFT / Algotrading. Then, it will depend on how your perform in the interview.
If you stay at MIT for 2 more years and complete your PhD in EECS, then for the rest of your career, you will get multiple job offers everytime you apply for jobs in HFT / Algotrading. I think that you are grossly underestimating the value of the MIT EECS PhD degree.

 

[Yike Lu]

Yes, your prospects look pretty good, although there will be an obvious bias towards putting you in a coding or technology role. These can still pay pretty well, but don't all have massive upside (as opposed to trading or startups).

 

[Mikhail Volkov]

Yes, your prospects look pretty good, although there will be an obvious bias towards putting you in a coding or technology role. These can still pay pretty well, but don't all have massive upside (as opposed to trading or startups).

Thanks. Can you elaborate more on "technology role" vs "trading"? I am interested in quantitative analysis, algorithmic trading, HFT, etc. I don't want to be a code monkey, I am interested in analysis and development. Does this require a PhD?

 

[TraderJoe]

Does this require a PhD?

Yes, but there are exceptions. There are some exceptionally intelligent people with only Masters degrees who are doing great work in HFT / Algotrading. But, generally speaking, an EECS PhD from MIT would be a golden ticket into the field and would open almost all the doors and would get you much greater respect in long-term career.

 

[Mikhail Volkov]

Thanks for your replies.

 

[Yike Lu]

Thanks. Can you elaborate more on "technology role" vs "trading"? I am interested in quantitative analysis, algorithmic trading, HFT, etc. I don't want to be a code monkey, I am interested in analysis and development. Does this require a PhD?

Well lots of HFT is heavy heavy tech where maybe the PnL is 90% based on technology and 10% on quant stuff. Certainly your upside isn't capped there and you'd be working with some pretty interesting tech (depending on your interests). So that's where trading and tech would intersect.

In other cases, there are firms which have a culture of technological excellence even though their alpha isn't so heavily dependent on it, and these will also pay well although without much crazy upside.

Then there are jobs in which development is important but not super critical to be an uber coder, and these are ok pay.

Finally there's straight IT, which I don't think you're in danger of going into.

Just from a pay perspective, with what you have you should shoot for the first two. Third is a reasonable alternative to get experience if everything goes bad. Fourth is a waste of your time to even consider.

Systematic trading/investing requires more of a mix of market knowledge and trading intuition than pure technology, where the EECS might pigeonhole you against getting in. You'd need to maybe make up some ground here with classes or outside activities. Having a great EECS background here will give you an edge but it's not enough on its own.

 

[Philip_Mitterrand]

You should take inspiration from Dr. Mazières. He got his PhD in EECS from MIT and the guy behind Stellar Lumes, Ripple.
David Mazières - brief bio

Complete your PhD, else you will regret it one day. There's more money to be made in Blockchain than being an HFT/algotrader.

I am having a mid-life crisis of sorts. Need sincere, objective advice. Without any bullshit, let me give you some objective facts:

- Male, 26 y/o, citizen of Ireland, currently resident in Boston on F-1 visa
- Currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program at MIT, dept of EECS
- 2013: S.M. Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, MIT
- 2010: B.A.I, B.A. Electronic & Computer Engineering, Trinity College Dublin
- My areas of specialization include optimization, statistical modeling, simulation, and large-scale data analysis
- I have a Master's thesis and 5 academic publications (conference papers)
- 5 previous academic internships in engineering fields, 1 of them was directly related to analysis of financial data
- 1 year experience day-trading Bitcoin as a hobby

Over the past year I have developed an interest in finance, mainly through Bitcoin. I am disillusioned with academia and want to leave. One way or another I think I am done here, I want to start looking for jobs TODAY. My academic credentials are strong, but otherwise I have no experience in this field, other than my own personal interests.

(I am a motivated, confident, fast and obsessive learner. But these are not objective facts.)

I am very interested in quantitative analysis, algorithmic trading, HFT, etc. I want to know, do I have a chance to get such a job? What do I need to know/learn? How do I begin looking for jobs in this area? What should my resume reflect? What kind of salary can I expect?

I would appreciate any comments and advice that you can give me.

Thank in advance.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Thanks, but I think you missed the point of my thread. I am interested in finance and I want to get a job in finance.

Finish that PhD.

TCD is a nice place.

 

[TehRaio]

what's the attrition rate at MIT I wonder? do they get loads of people like op?

 

[bigbadwolf]

what's the attrition rate at MIT I wonder? do they get loads of people like op?

For US math departments Steven Krantz claims 50-80% of grad students drop out. For MIT it will probably be closer to the higher figure.