My long term goal is to be able to manage and grow money on my own. I have no problem doing grunt work research if it means having access to successful traders, and learning what they know. It's the training and mentorship I'm mostly after. As I understand, there are different types of prop firms ranging from ones that charge you desk fees, deposit, education, and give you strict drawdown limitations, vs other ones that actually invest in training you but there is less upside earning potential. I wager that none of you who made it got to where you are without some help, so cut me some slack. I just want to learn more about what it takes to get good, and other people's journeys, whether they were successes or failures.
If you require a salary, you are limiting yourself to a small subset of firms, usually very picky when hiring candidates. And if you get the job, you will have a boss and tasks that might not resemble anything to what you imagine the job of a trader to be. But it might be exactly your cup of tea, who knows? If you are a quant scientist your chances of getting the job are probably highest.
This is going to be difficult if you leave your job because profits will be used to cover living expenses. Really, keep the day job and just keep doing what you are doing and watch your account grow stress free knowing you have the day job.
Mark, I'll take you up on the shorting job. But you got to let me shoot your guns and drive your cars.
I agree the pressure to perform is a big psychological factor, which is why i'm looking for a salary position. anything that help me accelerate learning in trading is a step in the right direction as far as I'm concerned.
Unless your PhD is in math or physics (or you are a newly graduated 22 year old from Ivy League in a STEM degree), the chances that you will get a salaried position at a prop trading firm is somewhere close to zero.
This is one of the few true "prop shops" that pay salaries. Take a look at the 52 job postings and see if you qualify. This should give you a feel for who they recruit. https://www.jumptrading.com/jobs.html