Hi everyone, I wanted to have some guidance on where I should look for in the future to move on with my career. I worked for 7 years in investment banking, in product control (basically risk reports production), ALM, C++ quantitative developer pricing derivatives and model validation, reviewing and reimplementing risk and pricing models. I have two master degrees in risk management and asset management, and did not do a mathematics degree or engineering. However I always showed interest in programming and pricing derivatives, and studied a lot on my own to be able to work as a c++ quantitative developer and now reviewing models and reimplementing them. Recently I see that there is less and less jobs in quantitative analysis / pricing derivatives, and the few remaining are very selective, requiring PhDs in Physics and mathematics, and even at model validation there is less and less models for pricing but more models for risk and regulatory projects. I also feel that even the remaining pricing models get very little attention from the bank as the trading portfolio is shrinking in size and moving away from complex derivatives. Having said this, I feel that I arrived at the very wrong time to become a Quant or get into trading. I also realized that my compensation is even lower than many middle and back office roles, which honestly came as a surprise. I am making 55k euros living in Amsterdam. Any thoughts? What should I be looking at if I want to have intellectually stimulating jobs in finance for the future and also, important, where the compensation will be relatively attractive? What skills should I be considering to acquire and what type of institutions to aim for? Thank you in advance.
Hi — If you want to move to the front office, your best chance is to apply for analyst roles in sales & trading. It is very hard to vertical from a non-front office role. Use your internal directory to find people in trading (in a product you want to be in) and just voice your interest and curiosity. Try to build rapport with these folks, even if they’re in different cities. They may help you apply for the analyst roles when they come up.
Do you prefer tech/coding or being in finance/trading business? Or do you absolutely need to do both? Because there are plenty of non-finance tech jobs. While you seem to validate various comments I’ve seen online about quant jobs being extremely competitive. If your strength is C++, there is serious shortage of C++ developers and maybe you could consider non-quant jobs. Because new generation of programmers start with Python, Java or C#, even with many C++ developers moving to C#. And not sure about your country, but in the US some job recruiters could provide advice and info on current opportunities, and your options. Finally, crazy idea, but maybe you’d consider doing some contract work remotely via Upwork, as I cannot find any quants on Upwork, while I’ve seen many more of them in the past. Many quants who offered to do consulting on Upwork seem to find long-term projects or jobs and no longer have time to do consulting. So I suspect that if you provide some consulting via Upwork, Freelancer and Fiverr, then you may find long-term opportunities, possibly with remote work. It’s really about proving yourself and making an employer or client depend on you, which is the same as with every job. If you can’t make yourself indispensable then you can be dispensed...
Forgot to mention that this quant, Dimitri Bianco, was doing Q&A today, but he just finished. He plans to do another one soon in the morning US time, so you may be able to join evening time in Europe:
Your question is not as simple as you make it sound. Your age and family situation will heavily influence the answer and you haven't provided any clues for those. I went through a bank's sales & trading program many many moons ago. My view is that it is never a "right" or "wrong" time to start something provided you're good at it and somehow like it. Yes, the job market has changed dramatically in the last 10-15 years and with that the job specs and requirements. The French banks + funds are "traditionally" very strong at what you say you're good at. You can also approach all the systematic hedge funds. I don't know what the situation is like in the Netherlands but finance is global so hopefully you're willing to relocate. Don't beat yourself up. There's always tons of opportunities out there. Good luck.
Investment banking can be very challenging for you because we have to figure out how to invest the money and connect people. Programming can be very challenging and help you to stimulate your brain to the utmost and sharpen your problem solving skills.