I'd suggest to go for an internship with one of the banks or not too small hedge funds so you get a better understanding of the job descriptions and working areas. A lot of stuff around trading is going to be a bit different from "just" getting in and out at the right time.
What about the possibilities for an M.D. to work for a hedge fund? I am developing systems for two years and I am not happy with them up to now.... I love maths, though I haven't used it for a while. Once thought about studying it. Anyway. What do you guys think my chances are to get a job with a hedgefund?
If you have some expertise relating to health care or biotech type technology, certainly there are many funds that hire specialists to help them navigate these sectors.
We had a guy have a heart attack right on the trading floor, if an MD was there the fellow might have survived. That would have been bad. On a serious note - look at some buyside firms that might be searching for people to analyze biotech/pharm stock.
"On a serious note - look at some buyside firms that might be searching for people to analyze biotech/pharm stock." Thought about the same, too.
Job Title: Arbitrage Trading System Developer Job Description: Opportunity in the Front-Office Trading Systems Development group of Wall Street firm. Duties include the development of trading and risk-management systems for use on firm's fixed-income trading floor. Responsibilities include business analysis/system design, programming/development and production system maintenance/user support. Required: Three to five years of C/C++ development/programming experience and at least one year of development experience using a relational database. Must demonstrate technical proficiency in each of the following areas: Object-oriented design techniques, C++ programming, computer science concepts, GUI development, Unix programming and inter-process communications concepts/programming. Demonstrate the ability to analyze complex business problems, and communicate their technical knowledge effectively. Location: New York City NY Duration: Permanent Pay Rate: Up to $100,000
Be careful about these types of jobs: While they may get you in the door they rarely lead anywhere except down the road to being a programmer: a Phd in physics should have more ambition than to simply become a programmer. Also, these types of jobs typically involve quite poor working conditions. I have been called into to many of these companies to oversee and fix troubled projects and have only encountered a few quality teams....
Agree. Like coming to the trading desk everyday before 7:00 am, taking abuse from the traders, no time to do programming at all because of all the support issues, etc. One of my friends, who has a Ph. D Physics degree, quit within one week. (The traders kept on yelling at him everyday.) However, that was 1998. Things may be different now.
This is pure tech position, no analytics involved. Why would anyone other then tech people want to do this?
So that you can develop relationship and connection, otherwise it is very tough to enter wallstreet firms. Then show your ability in trading.