Headhunters

@ cfagoal2 i acknowledge i act online like i’m 1/3 your mother’s age, but am a decade older. much more fun to say stuff about your mother and fight with Mobius Striptease, haha. you should see how mature i am in real life though: leading group meetings, presenting at conferences, teaching classes of undergraduates, being well mannered, and all such things.

why do you think you are a decade older than me, sub you are such a silly goose

not a decade older than you, cfagoal2, but a decade more than 1/3 your mother’s age.

when it rains, it pours… got in touch with a few firms and some headhunters (cumulative time = ~ 1 week), some with connections to some very big names. seems like i’m going to have to get my programming skills and interview prep up, to maximize my chances at acing the interviews at these places…though it seems like i could probably get into second or third tier places very soon and with greater probability. prefer to take another couple months to prepare to get a shot at the big leagues.

@sublimity: what are you doing your PhD in? what kind of work are you looking for (looks like quant)?

hey advydov7, a mathematical field. looking to get into algo, but seems like the competition is extreme, especially since C++ is so important.

See sub? you’ll be fine. If you went to a decent program I’d wait for the big boys.

Sub have you done a lot of work in Mathematica or MatLab (if I recall MatLab programming is quite similar to to C++), or are you on the statistical side (i.e primarily used R, S, Stata, SAS, etc.)?

i have experience with mathematica, C, C++, MatLab, Java…heck, even scheme and fortran, lol! i have done a lot with mathematica (which some might not consider programming, myself included) since it was to help in the analytical equations in my theoretical research, i have an intermediate level understanding with all the other languages listed. that said, though i have worked a decent amount in C++, i am not expert enough in C++ at this time to beat out the other interviewees for these positions and to thrive so this is the dealbreaker for me. i could interview now, but it would just waste my chances at these big names.

Lol Fortran!!! Hahahaha!!! So oldschool.

There’s a distinction between being proficient at the language itself and your programming skills independent of the language. adavydov7 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Lol Fortran!!! Hahahaha!!! So oldschool. I can’t be beaten. I knew how to program in LISP at some distant point of my life.

sublimity is right that one has a better chance to break into algo if he is a hardcore programmer clueless about finance, than a finance guru with “some level” of programming experience.

Sub: how did you pick up your interest in finance (or do you even have one)? are you doing the CFA test still (what level are you on now?) or have you already completed them?

sublimity Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > i have experience with mathematica, C, C++, > MatLab, Java…heck, even scheme and fortran, lol! > i have done a lot with mathematica (which some > might not consider programming, myself included) > since it was to help in the analytical equations > in my theoretical research, i have an intermediate > level understanding with all the other languages > listed. > > that said, though i have worked a decent amount in > C++, i am not expert enough in C++ at this time to > beat out the other interviewees for these > positions and to thrive so this is the dealbreaker > for me. i could interview now, but it would just > waste my chances at these big names. Replace Fortran with F90, sounds much cooler on a resume :slight_smile: Funny how your graduate school advisor can have an impact on your life years after you graduate. I was assigned to a project that had to be implemented on a parallel processing set-up that was top of the line at the time and we were required to do it in Fortran 90. I kept using Fortran until two years ago when the IT people had an “intervention” with me telling me how they can no longer find updated compilers and how the’re not willing to spend time on linking my old-school codes.

@ Mobius Striptease Yeah, some of these firms like RenTech consider themselves a technology firm with interest in finance, rather than a financial firm that uses technology. @ advydov7 Short answer: I got into finance because academia is a dead end for me, both as a career and in terms of money. Long answer: I’d be facing multiple post-docs at pretty decent though low paying places, an assistant professorship at most likely a no name place, and then bust my arse into my early 40s before settling into any type of permanence - and this is if I’m lucky and continue to be a good researcher. Funny story, I helped teach a class under an adjunct professor, a newly minted Harvard theoretical physicist, who had to leave academia for industry since he couldn’t find a permanent academic position. Anyways, this is why I’m going into finance: because the money is good, there are more opportunities, and I like the subject (though not as much as other things). I was in the CFA program, but am stopping indefinitely since I don’t think it’s necessary for what I want to do. Probably better use of my time to learn as much programming and algo trading as possible.

@ mo34 Yeah, amazing how the advisor can be a dominant force in your life. My graduate school experience has been excellent since my advisor is such a cool guy, in contrast, some friends have been in a living hell for the past few years and some have even dropped out due to their advisors. Although C++ is the de facto standard now and that protects it from becoming obsolete too quickly, I wonder what’s going to happen with programming languages in the future as multiple cores arrive (terascale computing) and the continual arms race heats up: better algorithms, better hardware, and just faster faster faster.

Part-time Crook Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > See sub? you’ll be fine. If you went to a decent > program I’d wait for the big boys. Thanks! My program is decent enough that the headhunters will be able to get me an interview at any of the big names, but succeeding in front of them is another game. Was originally planning to get a position as soon as I could after the new year, but looks like I do have a shot at the big boys after talking with these recruiters. I just need to do whatever’s necessary to get in, even wait until the summer or later, since if I get in then that’s much better than starting at some less competitive place next week.

it’s your decision but dont underestimate the value of experience in the eyes of employers, even if it is a “less competitive place than the big boys”. a “hardcore programmer” that has only performed in academic setting, regardless of his or her credentials, has never faced the challenges of a real-world problem no matter how applied his education is. i know this, hiring mangers do, fresh graduates don’t. rather than spending time and accumulating theoretical knowledge, i’d recommend seizing an opportunity at a less competitive place and shining there. i guarantee you’ll learn more on the job in the right setting and improve your competitive position in front of the “big boys”

yeah, that makes sense. basically, i just want to shoot for as high as possible as i start my first position. if i don’t succeed in getting in to a really good place, then i will have to go to a lesser place whether i want to or not, and take another shot in a couple years. EDIT: i can’t believe i’m having an actual conversation with Mobius Striptease, of all people. i think we’ve had 5-10 threads deleted due to our, shall we say, spirited debate, hahahaha!

@sub: true, academia in the science is terrible in the states (both in terms of pay and landing a tenure-track position). Can I ask why you went into it initially? Since I am guessing your feelings about what you wanted to do changed rather dramatically in your time there. Doing it differently would you have rather gone the MQF or MFE route at a top school?