Normally I would advise against this: becoming a very good developer takes about five to ten years of experience and you would likely be taking a step back in y

Normally I would advise against this: becoming a very good developer takes about five to ten years of experience and you would likely be taking a step back in your career without a major payoff (financially, for sure). However, in this case, a Quant who is already doing technical work, it seems more likely to be successful. The long term comp will likely end up being lower than just staying a Quant and aiming to move up, but if programming speaks to you, you are in a better position than most to switch. One potential avenue would be to build a SAAS product for Quants with your existing domain knowledge. This would allow you to leverage your existing body of work and do the programming work you want to. Good luck!