i am interested in both fields. i have been programming various languages for quite some time. I also do lot of financial trading, take part in a small equity fund at our school, where we mainly do valuation models and stuff. i really enjoyed taking part in the trading olympiad where we had to develop automated systems. what are some career paths and positions that i can purse which combines both of the two worlds ? programming & finance/banking? do you think this sector will be outsourced to indian and chinese programmers in the future ? thanks!
Get a masters or preferably PhD in mathematics, statistics, physics, Computer Science, or some other hard science (not that CS is one of the classic "hard sciences" but anyway). That's the best way into quant jobs at the top firms or hedge funds.
Hedge Funds, Investment banks, large banks, large insurance companies (think MetLife) and other financial service companies hire IT people with such skills. If you are GOOD, you can do very well. There is always going to be some outsource staff everywhere, but they usually retain their significant IT staff in places like NY/Stamford, London, HK, Tokyo, Chicago, etc near their trading/financial staff.