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I don't really think I'm terribly special. As I said in sibling comments, I have been trying to break into more of the software side, not the quant stuff. I don

I don't really think I'm terribly special. As I said in sibling comments, I have been trying to break into more of the software side, not the quant stuff. I don't think I need to be special in order to try to break in, as long as I set my expectations to "it's a long shot" mode. I do think that I could learn any level of quant if I really wanted to, but I would rather focus on the software stuff. I have about half of a PhD in theoretical computer science, but that's not usually the "math" that's useful in finance, outside of the software side.

alephnerd 2y ago
> I have been trying to break into more of the software side, not the quant stuff > I have about half of a PhD in theoretical computer science There just aren't that many jobs in High Finance. They can concentrate on hiring EECS/ECE/CS majors from MIT, Harvard, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UIUC, Columbia, and Princeton and call it a day. But more critically, why would you even want to make that move? The RoI isn't that high if you aren't quant. You can make decently well working in most tech companies with a better WLB.
- tombert 2y ago
  > The RoI isn't that high if you aren't quant. The postings I see on Selby Jennings (and their equivalents) seem to show a considerably higher salary than the BigCo's that I've worked at. At least the salary bands that are listed. That's honestly a big reason, but I also just find the world of ultra-low-latency software pretty interesting.
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    You'll also be expected to work 60-80 hour weeks. You can earn the bottom end of those salary bands in West Coast Big Tech with much less hours worked (30-50). > ultra-low-latency software pretty interesting Then go into ML Infra. It's the same skillset and problem space (high performance computing), but better work hours and decent compensation.
    - tombert 2y ago
      I've tried; I've done what everyone has done and sent applications to OpenAI; they don't call me back. I don't really want to work for an AI startup.
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alephnerd 2y ago

> I have been trying to break into more of the software side, not the quant stuff > I have about half of a PhD in theoretical computer science There just aren't that many jobs in High Finance. They can concentrate on hiring EECS/ECE/CS majors from MIT, Harvard, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UIUC, Columbia, and Princeton and call it a day. But more critically, why would you even want to make that move? The RoI isn't that high if you aren't quant. You can make decently well working in most tech companies with a better WLB.

tombert 2y ago
> The RoI isn't that high if you aren't quant. The postings I see on Selby Jennings (and their equivalents) seem to show a considerably higher salary than the BigCo's that I've worked at. At least the salary bands that are listed. That's honestly a big reason, but I also just find the world of ultra-low-latency software pretty interesting.
- alephnerd 2y ago
  You'll also be expected to work 60-80 hour weeks. You can earn the bottom end of those salary bands in West Coast Big Tech with much less hours worked (30-50). > ultra-low-latency software pretty interesting Then go into ML Infra. It's the same skillset and problem space (high performance computing), but better work hours and decent compensation.
  - tombert 2y ago
    I've tried; I've done what everyone has done and sent applications to OpenAI; they don't call me back. I don't really want to work for an AI startup.

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