Want to become a quant (quant researcher)

[templarofdaoism]

I have been working at a major tech comp for the last two years. During this time, I really figured out a lot about myself (of course, there are a lot more to discover about myself), but I start to realize I hate coporation, and I am not good with all that promotion game. I start to eye quant researcher jobs at hedge funds, because I think I have a good understanding of statistics, good with computers, and love to play the game of finance. I probably still lack experience working wiith large datasets, and extracting signal/applying ML models on these datasets, but I am learning these skills right now.

Is there people on this forum working in hedge funds or seller side as a quant? What do you think is the skill set that these firms are looking for, what is your suggestion for the fastest way to become one?

THanks alot!

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

yes, I'm working as a buy-side quant.

Hard to say what the particular skills you need, that will probably vary a bit depending on what kind of position your are applying for. But they are typically looking for people with 1) exceptional problem-solving skill 2) very high general drive and ambition, 3) people with intense interest in markets. 4) understanding of how markets work and how market data behaves 5) a combination of theoretical and practical intelligence

The problem-solving aspect is pretty important because finance is a very fast-paced and dynamic world. An excellent place to work on your problem-solving is projecteuler.net

4th point is also essential, because financial data is messy as hell and analysis of which (e.g. applying ML) has a large amount of pitfalls if you don't know what you're working with. The book "Algorithmic Trading" by Chan could be a good intro.

I also think a good approach would be to have a website or blog or something where you showcase various projects and research you've done into trading/investment. This would not only exemplify you skills but also show that you can be a self-starter

what sort of work have you done so far and what sort of education do you have?