Recent content by SteveTownsend

You should read other opinions than headhunters for "Risk Talent" when thinking about the likely quant job market in the near future. How do you think the immense, continuing writedowns and current macro-economic uncertainty affect hiring plans among the big investment banks? How do you...

Apparently not, the details will be posted here: Baruch College's Financial Engineering MS Program

try craigslist.org, sometimes you can find someone doing a "by the night" sublet that would be cheaper than a hotel.

Unfortunately I will be out of town, this sounds interesting: Numerical Algorithms Group - Industry Events - QuantDay 2007

Baruch posts package info for recent graduating classes at http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/math/masters_employment_stats_new.html

There is definitely a "gold rush" mentality into the field. You can see this in the number of students asking "can I become a quant?" on these boards as well the number of new MFE and related programs that spring up each school year. It's a bit ironic that this trend has reached a crescendo...

That's a tough one. Baruch's program is heavily C++-focused, other programs use Excel/VBA (Baruch also but not as much), Matlab (not allowed at Baruch). Also hard for me to answer since I'm working close to a quant-heavy business (FI Derivatives sales and research) but still in an IT role, so...

My MFE tuition at Baruch as an NYC (or NY State) resident will be around $10K. All Manhattan alternatives are $40K and up, including the most expensive which is not even taught live in the city! Now explain to me again the relative values. The best alternative I found for value was the...

Nope. Exchange Server 4.0, 5.0, 5.5, X.400 MTA - the part that routes and delivers all the mail.

I am a professional programmer of 20 years standing who did my undergrad degree in mathematics, and moved from Microsoft to NYC three years ago to switch fields. The move was for three reasons: 1. The programming work is more interesting and challenging when you add in the finance and math...

I interviewed at Wachovia Securities in early 2006 for a position working on an equity derivatives trading system. Their investment bank used to be Prudential Securities and at the time I was there I was told they are investing heavily to be taken seriously in the IB world. New premises on...

Coincidence The rumor here helped Bear to sell $1bn of bonds the next day. How convenient.

Why we interview for C++ skills Here is an eloquent argument about why checking a candidate's C++ proficiency is a better test of a programmer's talent for building software (versus their skillset) than testing for Java or C#...

Mathematics, Cambridge UK, graduated 1985

Linguist, mathematician - it's all symbolic manipulation. I was stronger at modern and ancient languages than at mathematics - I just did not see as good career prospects in languages, rather sadly.