Preet, commute from NYC to Stamford is indeed a pain, I have couple of friends doing it, who work in CT (Hedge Fund - IT dept). For me it’s not that much a pain from NJ to NYC. And I have taken an oath not to stress out on studies anymore after 7thJune, once this L2 massacre is over and done! Imagine Caribbean cruises & Tampa beaches post 7th
If it doesn’t have a wikipedia article, it is not worth doing.
I can think of some things worth doing with no wikipedia article.
Oh yeah? Name me seventeen… 
all 17+ of my ex-gfs are not on wiki…
It’s a lob and I have to take it. None of them are worth doing.
Dinesh, I dont think I even want to go into Quant, by the looks of my fund, I woudl much rather be on the fundamental side, then go black box style. I was only thinking of doing it so I could get a good background but its def not worth sleeping 4 hours a day. Lastly, June 7th I’m off to LV for a week(WSOP, buying in to the $1500 NL event) with a few buddies, still trying to figure if I should stay at NY NY or MGM or Luxor, all under 130 a night…Any suggestions?
I still believe that the CFA coupled with some app. training is all you need. Willy
Preet, Are you working in HF (only) or something more to it ? Anish
If you live in the UK, wilmott also has a headhunter service (P&D = paul and dominic). If you’re in the UK and interested in taking the CQF, I’d have an upfront conversation with dominic connor (who posts in the wilmott forums as DCFC) about your chances of getting a job of your liking (with his help !) when done with the CQF. This conversation with dom should tell you whether the cost of the CQF is worthwhile or whether you’re just flushing it down the toilet. If you’re in the US, CQF is less valuable
Anish, what do you mean by something more to it? Could you please clarify. I work in a Hedge Fund based in Stamford, we’re pretty big. There are three divisions - Equity(Convertible Securities Arbitrage), Fixed Income(Distressed Investing) and Exotics(Insurance, complex customized MBS). As for what I do, I work on the exotics modelling part to price exotic securites to make use of arbitrage opportunties. It definately has a quantitative side to it. I am not sure if I answered your question or not. Preet
maratikus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I got Paul Wilmott’s books on Quantitative > Finance. They have all you will learn in CQF. Which ones to you recommend? Is the 3-volume set the best for the shelf? How difficult is the material? Thanks for your help.
preetchawla Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Anish, what do you mean by something more to it? > Could you please clarify. I work in a Hedge Fund > based in Stamford, we’re pretty big. There are > three divisions - Equity(Convertible Securities > Arbitrage), Fixed Income(Distressed Investing) and > Exotics(Insurance, complex customized MBS). As for > what I do, I work on the exotics modelling part to > price exotic securites to make use of arbitrage > opportunties. It definately has a quantitative > side to it. > > I am not sure if I answered your question or not. > > Preet Preet, Yes you answered my question. It it all complicated or pretty much the same stuff over n over. Just want to have an idea of a typical day at HF - pricing exotics. Thanks
Preet, what are the requirements for a big-HF, like the one you work, or something like AQR/SAC – requirements for ‘IT guys’. Do they have to be math geeky? And talk statistics in their sleep? Do they need to be Excel excellent? I have a decent math background (Bachelors in CS) and a decent finance knowledge (L2 candidate), do I stand a chance?
Wilmott seems hit and miss. When he explains something well, he does a brilliant job of it and it’s great. Those moments are really worth it. But then sometimes he forgets to do things like define his terms and then you get confused when he puts sigma and chi together to get 4. I was looking at his Paul Wilmott introduces Quantitative Finance and I seem to remember a ton of graphs that didn’t have their axes labeled, so you couldn’t really figure out what it was showing. Then again, he’s a mathematician, not a scientist, so axis labels are optional for him. 
On the whole, I thought the good stuff outweighed the bad, but I sure wish he would pay more attention to making sure he defines his terms clearly before he uses them.
Anish, Its a mixture of same stuff over again and new stuff - a combination…Next month should be itneresting because we are planning on coming out with a one of a kind product, I might be selcted to work on it, find out next week…As a new college graduate(graduated in 07), I am very happy with the responsibility I get here, do most of the work that the senior analysts do here, just that I dont have the final say on the valuation… Dinesh, I am nost sure about the IT guys requirements but I do over hear them talk about stuff like all the altes processors and new technology and what not…I am sure they are good with a few programming languages but do not know beyond that…I wont be able to judge your candidacy but Iwould recommend that if you finanl goal is to be in finance, pass elvel 2 and apply for jobs in finance…sure tis going to be tough but if thats what you want to do, go for it…
DanLieb Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > maratikus Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I got Paul Wilmott’s books on Quantitative > > Finance. They have all you will learn in CQF. > > Which ones to you recommend? Is the 3-volume set > the best for the shelf? How difficult is the > material? > > Thanks for your help. I would suggest the 3-volume set. Don’t buy the 1-volume book because it’s just a quick summary of the 3 volume-set with lots of gaps. I like reading it once in a while when I have questions about particular instruments. At the same time, I’d suggest using it with caution because he doesn’t go beyond simple assuptions of Black-Scholes world. if you are interested in financial math, I like a book written by one of my professors: http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Stochastic-Finance-Models-Theory/dp/9810236050
I think a better way to get your foot into the door short of a PhD in Math/Stat/Physics/CS is to contribute code to a quant open-source project like QuantLib.
ymc Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think a better way to get your foot into the > door short of a PhD in Math/Stat/Physics/CS is to > contribute code to a quant open-source project > like QuantLib. I would appreciate if you could elaborate your thought. Thanks, Anish
YMC, I just googled QUantLib…looks more like IT thing. I have no knowledge in programming and languages… Thank you anyways.