6 ms·

C/C++ is most common. Good luck getting their attention if you didn’t go to MIT, CMU, Stanford, etc.

by remyp 6y ago

mraza007 6y ago
Even with the experience you have Won’t get there attention That’s crazy
s1t5 6y ago
This + willingness to work absurd hours.
- mraza007 6y ago
  Agreed i heard from few friends they worked crazy hours plus it was a high stress job
  - michaelcampbell 6y ago
    Some time before HFT was as popular, I worked at a Wall St. trading firm (though in the back office clearance and settlement area). The devs who supported the traders had some wild "high stress" stories; it was pretty routine and commonplace for them to be screamed at nonstop by multiple traders during the entire trading day, then everyone would go out for drinks/dinner afterwards. Daily. There was a paramedic on the trading floor. At least once a trader had a heart attack and the other traders were just casually stepping over him post-collapse, because... paramedic on the trading floor. It was my first job post-college; in the first or second week I was there, a company wide email went out that stated the policy for in-office birthday parties was being changed in that strippers would no longer be reimbursed. Out of office it was still ok. Anyone interested in those times should read "Liar's Poker"; it's a good overview, at least from what I remember, since where I worked was that same firm.
    - jmeister 6y ago
      Those days are long gone. Technologists are highly respected now. Also the backgrounds of traders have changed slowly. More cerebral, less jocky. So the cultural and pay gap has reduced
gen220 6y ago
I went to a couple onsite recruiting “mixers” for hedge funds and HFTs in NYC. I was an intern for a financial services company, and didn’t go to one of those schools, but I guess I had a strong set of work experiences. Every other student there had (to me) a shockingly naïve understanding of software engineering, and many of them were done with school at this point, and had interned at big companies... 90%+ went to a school like the one you mentioned, and started looking through me when I shared the school I went to. Maybe HFTs and hedge funds feel they need to hire from these schools, because they assume that the pool of candidates outside of these schools is even worse? The actual engineers I spoke to were either very bright but kind of self conscious that they were “marrying down” for money, or very excitable and coming from non-eng backgrounds (physics, etc). Can someone correct me if my impressions were wrong? I don’t want to name names, but these were two pretty successful companies, one was a Hedge Fund and the other was an HFT firm.
- lalalal123 6y ago
  I'm not sure why HFTs can often feel the need to hire from these schools. I think it's a little different in NYC, but in Chicago, it tends to be the devs that couldn't land jobs in silicon valley that end up working as devs in trading. Generally speaking (so obviously not for everyone - but for most) working as a developer in trading was not anyone's first choice. Go figure what this means for the kids from brand names schools who end up working there. I say this is as someone who went to work at an HFT firm after MIT.
  - mraza007 6y ago
    Did you like it ?
akhilcacharya 6y ago
Citadel notably interviews people from all over. Chicago trading firms are also more egalitarian, like Belvedere or Wolverine or DRW or Akuna. Source - got an offer from Citadel previously without a top school or C/C++ expertise.
- mraza007 6y ago
  Wait how come if you don’t mind sharing your experience
  - akhilcacharya 6y ago
    My interview loop was mostly UI related. All of these trading firms and hedge funds require UI expertise at some form, either for WPF/QT apps or web UXs for reactive charts, tables, etc.
    - mraza007 6y ago
      Wow that nices so It's easy land a postion with these expertise too but I guess it hard to get your recognized in the first place
      - akhilcacharya 6y ago
        The loops were imho, pretty tough but focused on library specific knowledge while implementing algorithms in the form of live coding.
- mav3rick 6y ago
  Maybe they didn't attract top talent and had to branch to other schools.
emidln 6y ago
I didn't graduate college. I work at an HFT. Nobody cares where you went to school or what your major might have been. I work with some people that dropped out of high school. The only things that matter are whether they believe you can currently help the company and if you can reach agreement to some terms under which you will do so. It is true that HFTs are more easily accessible to top schools but that's largely due to employee alumni networks and HFTs sending recruiters to school mixers and competitions. We sponsor competitions/hackathons at places like CMU and MIT (and send recruiters/reps to network/scout). If you go to $StateSchool, just apply through the usual channels (check websites for internships/graduate roles). If you can pass the automated tests, you'll get a phone/video chat screening.

C/C++ is most common. Good luck getting their attention if you didn’t go to MIT, CMU, Stanford, etc.

by remyp 6y ago

C/C++ is most common. Good luck getting their attention if you didn’t go to MIT, CMU, Stanford, etc.

mraza007 6y ago

Even with the experience you have Won’t get there attention That’s crazy

s1t5 6y ago

This + willingness to work absurd hours.

mraza007 6y ago
Agreed i heard from few friends they worked crazy hours plus it was a high stress job
- michaelcampbell 6y ago
  Some time before HFT was as popular, I worked at a Wall St. trading firm (though in the back office clearance and settlement area). The devs who supported the traders had some wild "high stress" stories; it was pretty routine and commonplace for them to be screamed at nonstop by multiple traders during the entire trading day, then everyone would go out for drinks/dinner afterwards. Daily. There was a paramedic on the trading floor. At least once a trader had a heart attack and the other traders were just casually stepping over him post-collapse, because... paramedic on the trading floor. It was my first job post-college; in the first or second week I was there, a company wide email went out that stated the policy for in-office birthday parties was being changed in that strippers would no longer be reimbursed. Out of office it was still ok. Anyone interested in those times should read "Liar's Poker"; it's a good overview, at least from what I remember, since where I worked was that same firm.
  - jmeister 6y ago
    Those days are long gone. Technologists are highly respected now. Also the backgrounds of traders have changed slowly. More cerebral, less jocky. So the cultural and pay gap has reduced

gen220 6y ago

I went to a couple onsite recruiting “mixers” for hedge funds and HFTs in NYC. I was an intern for a financial services company, and didn’t go to one of those schools, but I guess I had a strong set of work experiences. Every other student there had (to me) a shockingly naïve understanding of software engineering, and many of them were done with school at this point, and had interned at big companies... 90%+ went to a school like the one you mentioned, and started looking through me when I shared the school I went to. Maybe HFTs and hedge funds feel they need to hire from these schools, because they assume that the pool of candidates outside of these schools is even worse? The actual engineers I spoke to were either very bright but kind of self conscious that they were “marrying down” for money, or very excitable and coming from non-eng backgrounds (physics, etc). Can someone correct me if my impressions were wrong? I don’t want to name names, but these were two pretty successful companies, one was a Hedge Fund and the other was an HFT firm.

lalalal123 6y ago
I'm not sure why HFTs can often feel the need to hire from these schools. I think it's a little different in NYC, but in Chicago, it tends to be the devs that couldn't land jobs in silicon valley that end up working as devs in trading. Generally speaking (so obviously not for everyone - but for most) working as a developer in trading was not anyone's first choice. Go figure what this means for the kids from brand names schools who end up working there. I say this is as someone who went to work at an HFT firm after MIT.
- mraza007 6y ago
  Did you like it ?

akhilcacharya 6y ago

Citadel notably interviews people from all over. Chicago trading firms are also more egalitarian, like Belvedere or Wolverine or DRW or Akuna. Source - got an offer from Citadel previously without a top school or C/C++ expertise.

mraza007 6y ago
Wait how come if you don’t mind sharing your experience
- akhilcacharya 6y ago
  My interview loop was mostly UI related. All of these trading firms and hedge funds require UI expertise at some form, either for WPF/QT apps or web UXs for reactive charts, tables, etc.
  - mraza007 6y ago
    Wow that nices so It's easy land a postion with these expertise too but I guess it hard to get your recognized in the first place
    - akhilcacharya 6y ago
      The loops were imho, pretty tough but focused on library specific knowledge while implementing algorithms in the form of live coding.
mav3rick 6y ago
Maybe they didn't attract top talent and had to branch to other schools.

emidln 6y ago

I didn't graduate college. I work at an HFT. Nobody cares where you went to school or what your major might have been. I work with some people that dropped out of high school. The only things that matter are whether they believe you can currently help the company and if you can reach agreement to some terms under which you will do so. It is true that HFTs are more easily accessible to top schools but that's largely due to employee alumni networks and HFTs sending recruiters to school mixers and competitions. We sponsor competitions/hackathons at places like CMU and MIT (and send recruiters/reps to network/scout). If you go to $StateSchool, just apply through the usual channels (check websites for internships/graduate roles). If you can pass the automated tests, you'll get a phone/video chat screening.