I was surprised by that as well, but there may be some explanation. For example, he was a teenage hacker and had connections - through his family or other. So m

I was surprised by that as well, but there may be some explanation. For example, he was a teenage hacker and had connections - through his family or other. So maybe he knew someone at a high frequency trading hedge fund who saw that the guy could code, and gave him a chance. I agree that it's a bit far fetched, but IMHO it's plausible and I wouldn't be surprised if more than one person had already landed a lucrative job in the financial sector that way.