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Charlotte Quants : I seek your advice

Shaker

Joined
5/30/11
Messages
6
Points
11
Hi All,
I'm from Charlotte, NC, working for one of the financial company here for past 6 years. I have been working in Java/J2EE for past 10 years. I'm thinking of taking 'Quant' as my next career. I'm about 35 yrs old.

I want to know your opinion, how difficult it would be to get into this role? What preparations I have to do for this.

Has any of you entered into Quant in similar situation? Am I making a wrong career path at this age, what kind of position I can expect if I look for a quant role in Bank of America or Wells fargo? What kind of pay can I expect?

I'm at cross roads, trying to chose a Quant career path or continue in tech lead and thus end up manager etc position. Please help by providing your inputs.

PS: Right now I'm in Charlotte, NC, have a own house but ready to move if I get enough confidence and direct that Quant is my next career. Willing to move..

Looking forward some inputs and boost.
 
A true Quant position (http://www.markjoshi.com/downloads/advice.pdf) at minimum will require a quantitative background in Statistics, Mathematics and a Finance and some experience. The educational level will also matter - at least a MS/MA level in engineering (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Quantitative_Finance) from a good school will be required but the PHD level will be preferred since this type of work will require a lot of analysis and less programming than in a case with coding.
A lack of proper education would require going back to school for ~1-1.5 years for full-timers and 1.5+ years for part-timers. Given your programming background and appropriate experience | education, the chances of getting into good quant places will be non-zero and the expected time < infinity.
As an option, you can try applying for jobs today - maybe you already have some minimum required level. By doing that, you will see what employers are looking for and what they are offering in return for the service.
 
Alexei,
Thanks for your response. I do have MS in computer science and ready to go to school for MS in Mathematical finance if that helps.

But, I would like to hear from Charlotte local quants, I want some advice, I want to know how can I get in? What would be starting salary..what kind of quant position I can get with my experience.What's their experience so far, esp how is Charlotte for Quants?
 
I'm based in NYC so not too familiar with the employment situation in NC. I don't know if Bank of America will eventually move to NYC. It's been rumored for a while http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20091103/FREE/911039985
I would suggest search for people through LinkedIn who may be in the position you describe (quant working in NC).
 
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