I have a pure finance background by education with a part time masters in financial engineering in progress. I’ve worked extremely hard to get a quant trading position as an intern. I’m old though, like early 30s. I’ve got the position only because I pretty much beat an algorithm challenge against all the applicants from major universities. Most employers don’t give me an algorithm challenge so I can never prove to them and it’s been very difficult for me to prove since I’m not a “real engineer” with formal education. I’ve probably applied to +3k jobs and got rejected. They ask these silly python questions which doesn’t justify I can write algorithms to trade or they are quick to judge.
Does anyone know anyone who is looking for a junior quant research or write algo? Or does anyone have suggestions what I can do? I did pass CFA I/II
Doesn’t seem like it. Plus it takes time for me to develop and research. My boss wants a sharpe of 3-4. Not sure how legit this is in quant field. I’m getting 2 and he’s rejecting my models. I’m devastated.
I did finance valuation on illiquid assets. Then thanks to financial crisis, I got lost which makes my resume look disoriented.
I ended up building a full ecommerce marketplace from scratch from backend to front end. That business failed. So I redid again and did a business in education in hardware engineering. I did generate recurring revenue and backed by professors and some company but seriously without the proper background in hardware it was extremely difficult. I did teach myself everything on electrical engineering, freshman to junior year stuff (or qt least that was what I was told I was reading). During all this time I kept applying to quant jobs and kept reading and of course as time passes no one liked me more and more
all I want is to get back to where I was and time isn’t helping me much.
Sounds like you are a better fit for startups who are looking for people with some quantitative ability and relevant entrepreneurship experience. My bird’s eye view says to forget prop trading, a field with 90% employee failure rate, and put less focus into online applications. Instead, try to make sincere, no strings meetings with individuals in small companies, and try to form connections and generate referrals with companies who will appreciate your background.
@ohai thanks! But where can I find such people? You are right though. I don’t know where to start or how to rather. I guess that’s why I’m back here.
I’ve interviewed for startups obviously but the programmers always ask those code questions, and I tense up.
I don’t think anyone can appreciate it. Everyone wants that cookie cutter type of resume. I’ve got comments from recruiters to give up, literally those words. It is extremely hurtful.
