Path to quant analyst?

Water Cooler Careers
#1

Current experience/creds:

  • 5 years private wealth mgmt, fund research, asset allocation
  • 3 years corporate FP&A
  • CFA charter, BBA Finance (your average large American university, good gpa)
  • Age: 32

Goals/Soon to achieve:

  • Double major; MS Analytics, Statistics from Georgia Inst. of Technology (top 10 in comp science/math)
  • Transfer to company in finance industry (currently in ecommerce) as FP&A and transfer to quant related role after graduation (1.5-2 years)

Highly possible? Slim chance?

Defining quant analyst within these areas: pricing models, portfolio risk analysis, pattern detection in financial securities at big banks, automated trading models, risk management, so on and so forth…

#2

Jobs like risk management are within your reach, assuming you are good and have people who can recommend you. More specialized roles - those that are typically filled by PhD candidates - are more selective and are probably unrealistic.

#3

You need PhD in Math, Engineering, or Comp Sci.

#4

GIT should be able to place you somewhere via on campus recruiting I’d imagine…not sure why you’d have to wait a couple years

#5

you need at minimum a MS degree in either mathematics or comp sci from a good university which most likely means that you are super number smart and but also a problem solver…hence you are a coder at some hedge fund making 200k a year straight outta MS program.

#6

Yeah but do you actually have any analytical skills?

#7

don’t need analytical skills…Look at the $400k making 28 year olds at Renaissance or Citadel or Two Sigma…These “equity analysts” have zero background in finance…They are deer in headlights if you ask them even the most widely taught and arguably most useless financial concept - beta of a stock…Yet, they truly have the modern era “high finance” jobs in Wall Street…Fundamental analysts are beginning to look like blue collar or second tier front office here in high flying HF and VCPE industry of NYC.