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> and highly trained workers such as mathematicians and physicists are being tied up in finance. The problem in my observation (in Germany) rather is: I know q

> and highly trained workers such as mathematicians and physicists are being tied up in finance. The problem in my observation (in Germany) rather is: I know quite some excellent mathematicians and physicists who would love to work somewhere else (even for less money etc.), but the only place where they found jobs was in finance. Quite some great mathematicians and physicists that I know have/had lots of trouble finding jobs because they are/were rejected because they are "overqualified", "too specialized", "too academic" etc. Specifically the finance domain seems to be somewhat more open towards highly-intelligent applicants.

avmich 7y ago
I understand it like you mean that mathematicians and physicists don't want to become entrepreneurs (i.e., create jobs for themselves) - they want keep their main professions, but in traditional workplaces they are overqualified, startups are few and far between, and finance offers much better (though still not outstanding) salaries than freelancing. Interesting that finance turns out to be more flexible than traditional economy.
- closeparen 7y ago
  Quant finance is nakedly a battle of wit. The one with the smartest technical staff wins. So of course you go out and collect all the smartest people you can find, no matter what it costs. Typical businesses are based on customer and partner relationships, acquisitions, deals, strategy, licensing, lawsuits, marketing, and business processes that can be executed reliably by interchangeable cogs. Any snowflake intellectual superstars they're interested in are for executive roles.
  - avmich 7y ago
    > Quant finance is nakedly a battle of wit. I'm afraid it's also a battle of least ethics. Ethics can be considered in a broad sense here.
    - wolfgke 7y ago
      > I'm afraid it's also a battle of least ethics. Ethics can be considered in a broad sense here. Ethics is something that not everybody is able to afford. If you believe that ethics is something important, you should consider where people who are really smart or have a marked moral sense are supposed to find jobs.
  - mikojan 7y ago
    > So of course you go out and collect all the smartest people you can find, no matter what it costs. Yes, but also: Why is there so much money in finance in the first place? This isn't just the way the world is. We consciously financialized our economies. Them being able to afford basically anything has everything to do with deregulation and an insanely low tax burden in that sector.

avmich 7y ago

I understand it like you mean that mathematicians and physicists don't want to become entrepreneurs (i.e., create jobs for themselves) - they want keep their main professions, but in traditional workplaces they are overqualified, startups are few and far between, and finance offers much better (though still not outstanding) salaries than freelancing. Interesting that finance turns out to be more flexible than traditional economy.

closeparen 7y ago
Quant finance is nakedly a battle of wit. The one with the smartest technical staff wins. So of course you go out and collect all the smartest people you can find, no matter what it costs. Typical businesses are based on customer and partner relationships, acquisitions, deals, strategy, licensing, lawsuits, marketing, and business processes that can be executed reliably by interchangeable cogs. Any snowflake intellectual superstars they're interested in are for executive roles.
- avmich 7y ago
  > Quant finance is nakedly a battle of wit. I'm afraid it's also a battle of least ethics. Ethics can be considered in a broad sense here.
  - wolfgke 7y ago
    > I'm afraid it's also a battle of least ethics. Ethics can be considered in a broad sense here. Ethics is something that not everybody is able to afford. If you believe that ethics is something important, you should consider where people who are really smart or have a marked moral sense are supposed to find jobs.
- mikojan 7y ago
  > So of course you go out and collect all the smartest people you can find, no matter what it costs. Yes, but also: Why is there so much money in finance in the first place? This isn't just the way the world is. We consciously financialized our economies. Them being able to afford basically anything has everything to do with deregulation and an insanely low tax burden in that sector.