2nd Career? Do I REALLY need a Ph.D.?

[Jeff H]

Hi All,
I'm basically looking for some advice. I've worked for nearly 20yrs in the consumer
electronics field as an Electronics Engineer and am debating a career change at
some point into Financial Engineering. My education included degrees (MS degrees) in
both Physics, and EE and while in physics I loaded up on mathematics courses.
So, I would say I'm perfectly comfortable with calculus, linear algebra, statistics,
ordinary/partial differential equations, integral equations, various special functions, etc.
In addition to this I have a decent background in programming (I've been programming
off and on since high school), but need to brush up on C++. Anyhow, my questions..
do you really need a Ph.D. to qualify for many quant jobs? Also, is where you got the
degree a factor? I studied at great schools, but they were public/non-Ivy league, etc.
Is this a difficult field to enter, or is it only tough during the present economy, etc.?
Is it worthwhile to get an additional MSFE degree? Is it a disadvantage to earn
such a degree part-time/online (I work fulltime presently, so it's likely this would
be my only option)? How does age work for/against you in applying for a first job?
Thanks for any info/advice.

-Jeff

 

[TraderJoe]

PhD is something which peope do in their 20s. It is by far the worst six years of a person's life. Do not be under any illusions about just how bad the experience is. It is not possible to endure something like that when you are in your 40s. Why do you want to lead a miserable, impoverished existence for six years in your 40s. Just do a part-time MFE program and interview. If you are able to get a job, fine. Otherwise, you still have your career. I would strongly urge you not to make such a huge blunder as to leave your job and enroll in a PhD program in your 40s. Regardless of what anyone else tells you, it is just a miserable existence.

 

[Connor]

People aged 40+ do get PhDs, but it is a big decision and not absolutely necessary.

To my knowledge the best MFE programs do not offer online options, and its questionable whether just any program will help you get a job. Depending on where you live part-time could be an option.

You may want to try studying up on some finance and try applying for some jobs, I think with your 2 masters you would be qualified.

 

[Jeff H]

Hi All,
Thanks for the advice so far. I think I might have been unclear about my intentions
...I in no way want to go back for a Ph.D. Although, I think a Ph.D. in Physics would be
easy for me...I simply switched into EE because I was concerned that a Ph.D. in Physics
would only prepare me for a life in academia (which I wasn't interested in). When I left the
Physics program I was in, the head of the program told me that I was leaving when I
"had the Ph.D. in the bag". I'd already passed the Ph.D. qualifying exam, etc. and just
needed to spend the required years researching/writing a dissertation. However, as you
guys also pointed out...it wasn't the most fun time I've ever had in my life either.
Anyhow, so the other questions still hold..would my only having MS degrees hold
me back from a technical career in finance? Or would my age, lack of a Ph.D.,
having/or not having an MSFE effect my chances? As you also pointed
out...I'm in my 40s, and might be in my early 50s when I plan to switch.
I really enjoy math, computers, programming, and business/finance/investing
topics. etc. and it seems like this might be a good outlet for my interests.

-Jeff

 

[DominiConnor]

No, you don't need a PhD, as in it's not an AND gate when filtering CVs,

But it will be tough, especially since you are in the set of EEs who don't do that much C++

There exist a few jobs in algorithmic trading, but those are mostly for people who've done signal processing.

What finance books have you read ?

 

[Jeff H]

Well, it is true that I'm one of the EE's that doesn't typically use C++. However, I do have a lot of experience in high performance computing, and extracting useful data/conclusions out of huge datasets. I'm not sure if that would be directly applicable or not, but that's my background. As for books, right now I'm starting with the text by Hull, Options, Futures, and other Derivatives. I'm not sure if this is the best place to start, but I've been told that it is the text for an ongoing grad level course on the topic. In addition, I'm soon to be reading/studying/working on examples from a book on Derivatives modeling in C++. Along with this I'm trying to become more familiar with the core pde's like the Black-Scholes model...understanding Martingales, and general stochastic calculus.

-Jeff

 

[atreides]

Take a look at this http://www.quantnet.com/master-reading-list-for-quants and http://quantstart.com/articles

Well, it is true that I'm one of the EE's that doesn't typically use C++. However, I do have a lot of experience in high performance computing, and extracting useful data/conclusions out of huge datasets. I'm not sure if that would be directly applicable or not, but that's my background. As for books, right now I'm starting with the text by Hull, Options, Futures, and other Derivatives. I'm not sure if this is the best place to start, but I've been told that it is the text for an ongoing grad level course on the topic. In addition, I'm soon to be reading/studying/working on examples from a book on Derivatives modeling in C++. Along with this I'm trying to become more familiar with the core pde's like the Black-Scholes model...understanding Martingales, and general stochastic calculus.

-Jeff