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I work with the language on a regular basis. Alain is right, the coding style is very terse and can be disconcerting to the un-initiated. Once you get a hang of it though, it's enjoyable. Excellent choice in case you plan to work with large volumes of tick data/ other time series analytics...

Good read, especially the concluding section.

Ilya, you'll probably need to figure out the details, but consider job options in Asia. A lot of the banks have aggresive plans for growth in the region and given the relatively simple immigration policies, no one would mind relocating you. They pay well too! I wouldn't take up the PhD. without...

Congrats Ben - These are amazing achievements. Pick either, you can't go wrong.

I've read the available reviews. Guys at QN deserve special credit, this is a must read for any and all prospective applicants. I assume you will be accepting more than one review per school ?

Not essentially a 'newer' way, but kdb+ is the standard for tick data in a lot of the equity houses.

Not the best for low-latency requirements.

Best wishes for a warm, merry christmas and a prosperous new year.

Geoffrey, after 8 years in a non-finance industry, would you be comfortable working in the capital markets ? Given your back-ground, you should be able to land some of the more IT-centric roles with a little effort. If it's the business side of things which you find appealing, I'd suspect that a...

Why would analytical skills outweigh management skills? Let's elaborate a bit on what management skills include here - Decision-making, people-management, admin responsibilities, project management etc (in no particular order and in it's most generic form). It's immediately obvious that...

By Finance Developer, I assume you mean a role akin to that of a quant developer. Instead, if you are looking at an IT role in the financial domain, given your back-ground, I'm quite sure you can actively start looking out for opportunities to switch now . Of course, you'll need to assimilate...

At first, it seemed to me that you made a rash inference, but on second thoughts, I think it's a very different way of looking at things. From what I've seen, the job postings exist (I won't comment on the volume of adds though) because what quants do is fundamental to the capital markets...

I'm skeptical about the implication that technical and management skills are mutually exclusive. Quant managers are subject matter experts at heart - I've seen a quant MD respond with great detail and amazing insight to some of the very basic questions concerning a model. And he is amongst the...

Interesting how cognitive dissonance fits into the whole thing.

If you are applying for a PhD, you'll probably have to take the GRE subject test as well. Generally, 800 in quant on the general test and above the 75th percentile in the subject test (math) at the very least would be fairly respectable.

There is a program at Stony Brook. How "good" it is depends on what features you attach importance to.

I'm skeptical about the relevance of a mathematical finance PhD in a purely academic domain. Any decent work must have professional/practical applicability. Perhaps the faculty which administer these courses are aware of these implications and are a little more forgiving of the motives of...

I dissent from some of the opinions expressed in this thread. My contention is not with the content per se, but rather with the tangential nature of the arguments with respect to the original issue. It is counter-productive to engage in a comparison of India and China to find a solution to the...

What is a safe litmus test to ascertain if a given university is recognized in the US or not? I'd assume that the presence of the university name in the drop down menu while selecting a college in the online application process is a reasonable indicator?

An information theory based approach to the markets drawing on Shannon's work in this field. This was amongst the first things which got me interested in quantitative methods in finance.

How? *random text goes here*

Being at NY has its advantages.

Yet another caustic diatribe against the financial system. Wonder how Wall St. will eventually wriggle out of this one; the physicists could at least claim peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Some quants should work on coming up with a model for pricing course credits :-\"

The recruitment consultant who got me in touch with my current employer (large IB) found my profile on linkedin. I find some of the linkedin communities especially helpful - the niche ones, not the ones where half the world is eligible.

Perhaps others, if at all, are recovering this cost incognito.

Absolutely. And in my opinion, clearing the intermediate stages alone has no tangible benefit. If you plan to invest in it, make sure you intend to see it through.

Search this forum for CFA related threads, this has been discussed before. Members here will be glad to help with further questions.

I'm not sured if they are labelled MFE in the UK. You will find courses in financial math at LSE, Imperial and Warwick. PS: This is a random list and in no way an endorsement.

Agreed. From a previous post, I inferred that perhaps applicants were screened initially based on a "check-list", which wasn't inclusive of the letters or the essay. But if this is just a "metaphor", and each application is in fact reviewed in its entirety, it's fine.

Not very long, given the volume of applications received. But there's no saying if the remnant of one of these potential reject's application reveals that he/she went on to form a start-up which did some ground breaking work. I guess it's ok to screen on the basis of a few check points provided...

Really ? I assumed a "careful consideration" of each application would take longer than a few minutes.

An attempt to perhaps reduce the paper traffic; this is fair.

Intentional choice of words? It seems to suggest a 'claim' as opposed to a well informed opinion. Or have I read this wrong?

Other than enhancing your technology platforms to establish connectivity and assimilate data with trivial delays , you need a setup which 'reacts' to this data in real time - reacts fast. Data vendors like Wombat are becoming increasingly popular amongst a lot of Algorithmic Trading desks. Some...

I'm loath to admit that perhaps bbw has a point here. However, that math modelling in finance is not an exact science should not be a terminal limitation or reason for us to abandon this field of study altogether. Instead, we need to promote a temperament of disquisitive enquiry amongst...

I've noticed that you feel strongly about this. What in your opinion is the best approach to understand/study capital markets? Or do you consider such an attempt futile?

Ryan, in the initial phase of your career, you should be more bothered about studying this industry and enhancing your skills. Career choices must not be dictated by money alone. This is a common pitfall.

Out of curiosity, how much do these appartments cost ? To buy? To rent? A quick google search shows that there are more Asian cities amongst the top 10 in an index of the costliest cities of the world.

Wonder what's behind those doors. Perhaps with a little effort in India, definitely not in Singapore.

I agree. Though loosely used , a majority of IT departments are dubbed as cost centres - no tangible/direct contribution to profit. That said, as GoIllini points out, some teams, by virtue of their roles are more closely aligned with the business, and hence in a better position to benefit...

Vector Calculus - used it extensively for antenna theory and wave propogation.

And your premise for this differential evaluation would be? Science is merely an approach towards assimilation of knowledge via observation and experimentation. An MFE or a quant job neatly fits this descripiton.

Pick one which best suits your interests. Be honest with your evaluation of your likes and dislikes. Many a time, we think we like something without really knowing much of what we thought we liked.

An Illuminating post! Pertinent to note in this thread that some IB's specifically categorize individuals who collaborate between Business and IT teams as 'Business-Analysts'.

Support deals with production and change management of existing systems. Real time support for trading systems can be quite demanding, and offers a good opportunity to study/understand the business. However, depending on how you approach it, this understanding has a tendency to be strictly...

This position has a traditional trade support flavour. IB's usually split up their IT task force into development and support roles. Check with them what the nature of your role will be.

Correct. From what I've seen, at large IB settings, perl's popularity primarily stems from it success in handling large files. If I were preparing for an interview, I'd pay special attention to these topics.

A sweeping generalization.

I agree. This is enough time to get a feel of the system. However, depending on the position you are applying for, your interviewer may find this familiarity sufficient/lacking.

kx's kdb+ is an excellent resource if performance is a priority. It's got most of the traditional sql constructs along with a rich library of inbuilt functions. Besides, it's quite easy to have it set it up to interface with C,Java,Matlab and the like as well.

Carry some rain gear !

It's a great country to live in. I've heard of people shifting from Tokyo and Hong Kong to go work there.