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Any Physicists here making a transition?

  • Thread starter Deleted member 2387
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Deleted member 2387

I thought I'd reach out and network with some h-bars (sad attempt at naming a physics biker gang/rock band) at the point of considering a transition to quant finance. I know, I know its a dated issue. But its never too late to make a few friends.

Tell us who you are, what you study, how you prep, where you applied. Share. Cry. Laugh. Paint a picture of you, so THEY know that you're more than the technical skills bullet point on a resume.

If I get some traction and numbers here, I promise to post my story too.
 
It's not like you are asking if anyone is making the transaction from reality star to quant so you should be able to find many of them here ;)
Didn't you realize the job market for Physics PhD when you started your journey?

http://www.quantnet.com/forum/threads/phd-physics-math-vs-mfe.5591/
http://www.quantnet.com/forum/threa...-path-to-quant-if-i-am-physics-phd-help.3500/
http://www.quantnet.com/forum/threa...finance-relates-to-physics-for-visa-app.3123/
http://www.quantnet.com/forum/threads/quant-job-for-physics-phd.1609/
 
I've been following and clawing at the job market for well over 4 years now, Andy. Ive squandered my youth perusing forums ;), harassing headhunters and recruiters, QF college professors, students, alumni who became quants, etc etc etc. Sadly, I have nurtured a healthy cynicism for a job prospect. An internship and a PhD have produced diddly-squat. Even MFE applications are falling apart. So I thought some solace will come from a grass roots attempt at Physics PhD quant aspirant group therapy :D.

Jokes apart, I appreciate the links you've sent me. I think I'll network more. Speaking of which, why cant we have a resume book for quantnet members. Seems like its got enough exposure to be worth a damn, amIright?
 
grimknight said:
Jokes apart, I appreciate the links you've sent me. I think I'll network more. Speaking of which, why cant we have a resume book for quantnet members. Seems like its got enough exposure to be worth a damn, amIright?
Click to expand...
Support group for physicist-turn-quant-wannabe sounds like a reasonable idea.
A market place where members can post their resume, search for jobs and for recruiters to search resumes based on keywords, degree type, school types, etc is being planned.
I obviously see enough interest from both sides. Most people here are looking for internship and jobs. And we have senior Wall Street people here who hired from our members.

So watch this place. It's coming to you.
 
Brilliant. Let the bruised ego massaging begin. I think a forum where recruiters and aspirants can discuss relevant skills and trends in the field will be very cool. A nice metric to check the pulse of what people need from us number crunchers. Something outside the prescreening interviews and HR keyword search engine black-holes. Cant wait.
 
grimknight said:
Brilliant. Let the bruised ego massaging begin. I think a forum where recruiters and aspirants can discuss relevant skills and trends in the field will be very cool. A nice metric to check the pulse of what people need from us number crunchers. Something outside the prescreening interviews and HR keyword search engine black-holes. Cant wait.
Click to expand...

@grimknight : Search for posts by @DominiConnor , some of his posts points to your above statement

I feel like every time I apply to an opportunity on a company website, it goes into a black hole with a trash can sitting at the other end.

@Andy Nguyen : it would be nice to have an sticky where HR, hiring managers and QN members can discuss some of these issues, trends , skills, etc...
 
Thanks @atreides. Again, I'm aware of the towering insights of @DominiConnor. He provides a valuable peephole into the quant recruitment world. I'm merely highlighting the gross disproportion in the candidates views and experiences. I feel your pain brother. HR singularities are annoying. I think it's time they stop making the "Its the corporate world, goes with the territory" excuse. I aim to misbehave.
 
@atreides
@grimknight said he is a forum lurker, recruiter harasser so I'm sure he knows many familiar faces here. He just needs someone to hire him so he can get in the door and stop squandering his youth, or middle age on forums.
Now he is a member here, maybe his posts will get some interests from hiring people who contact him directly. You can't throw something around here without hitting someone who is working in a bank and may know some openings.
 
Guilty as charged, Andy . Personal motives aside, I love how you condensed my life for the past 4 years into "...just needs someone to hire him....". Hahaha. I'd love to get some responses from recruiters. But there's a larger problem afoot and with the reach that Quantnet commands, I hope to affect some dialogue. @atreides Passive aggressive forum troll that I am, stickies and stuff are above me right now. Want to take the initiative and link this post there?
 
Don't lose hope.
You don't read about them here but I know the many lives have been changed for the better simply for being a member here.
I know graduates from far lung MFE programs who join this site, move to NYC and participate in some projects by people here, got a chance to network and eventually got a very good job.

There are lot of people reading this site without being a member and I'm making it convenient for them to find talents among the audience here. That said, being a job seeker, aggressive networking in a way that does not turn off potential employer is not a skill many people possess.
 
It would be good to get some more information? Which school for PhD ...etc
 
Physics PhD from Kansas (concentration: Astrophysics). Bachelors in Engg from India. Internship at a Reinsurance firm in NY modeling catastrophe bond indices in MATLAB. It was a need based summer gig that wouldn't have led to a FT position, as was indicated to me before joining. All quant finance knowledge so far is self study. C++ for simulations in research.
 
Speaking of credentials, @Andy Nguyen, I've been getting a lot of rumor data about how the name of one's 'non-top' institution being hardcoded into HR departments resume sorting/selecting processes. Maybe you can have some of your recruiter contacts to address the issue on the forum? Is it true/fair?
 
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