Advice for a FO developer

[Mike Giazl]

Hi all,

I am reading the comments on the forum for a while but just became a member in order to ask for suggestions.
I am working as a Front office developer in JP London office and have been reviewing my career seriously since I feel stuck in my position and believe I should do something more to be on more quantitative side. In total, I have 7 years of work experience in investment banks where I mostly worked on building trading platforms and giving support for daily pricing and risk issues. I have Bsc. Computer Science from a local university in my country(ranked within Top 500 and nothing more) but have no graduate degree.

What I want to ask is do you guys think how quitting my job and getting a master degree from one of the top Financial Engineering programs in US might affect my career. Would it mean starting from scratch to be on quant side or in contrast my experiences would still be an asset ? My career goal is being a quant developer preferably in a hedge fund but my primary motivation is to have a good education in my area of interest.
I am also wondering what is my potential chance for getting accepted by one either Berkeley or Columbia given my 3.30/4.00 BSc. degree and 7+ years of work experience in trading floor roles in Tier1 investment banks.

Any comment/suggestion will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[rnvpx]

sorry but unless you're one of the top smartest kids at one of the top 5 schools, you're not gonna do better than where you are now

 

[qin]

stop talking and start doing.

 

[mhy]

Your experience would not go to waste, especially since most "quant" jobs are actually programming jobs nowadays. Look into quant programs in London as well

 

[yashyadav]

Hi all,

I am reading the comments on the forum for a while but just became a member in order to ask for suggestions.
I am working as a Front office developer in JP London office and have been reviewing my career seriously since I feel stuck in my position and believe I should do something more to be on more quantitative side. In total, I have 7 years of work experience in investment banks where I mostly worked on building trading platforms and giving support for daily pricing and risk issues. I have Bsc. Computer Science from a local university in my country(ranked within Top 500 and nothing more) but have no graduate degree.

What I want to ask is do you guys think how quitting my job and getting a master degree from one of the top Financial Engineering programs in US might affect my career. Would it mean starting from scratch to be on quant side or in contrast my experiences would still be an asset ? My career goal is being a quant developer preferably in a hedge fund but my primary motivation is to have a good education in my area of interest.
I am also wondering what is my potential chance for getting accepted by one either Berkeley or Columbia given my 3.30/4.00 BSc. degree and 7+ years of work experience in trading floor roles in Tier1 investment banks.

Any comment/suggestion will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

I'm in similar scene, have worked as FO developer for 7 years and next 3 years as jr quant developer.
As I really wanted to make my career in quant development, joining MQF this fall.