Computing courses...how many?

[canadian quant]

Hi all,

I'm currently pursuing a bs.c in economics and applied math. However after reading through quantnet and other sites, I've come to learn that programming knowledge is very important for quants. My question is how much programming knowledge is needed to pursue an MFE and a carreer as a quant afterwards? Do I need to be able to write complex programs using C++? Would it also be worth taking a course in R ?

I appreciate any help

 

[Connor]

There is a range of programming skill required (in theory): basically their are people that just work on theory and strategies with no serious programming on one end and at the other end are guys that develop these strategies into programs. There are people everywhere between those extremes.

Yes you will need some programming skills, but how much really depends on what you are interested in doing.

Knowing R and C++ would be good.

 

[canadian quant]

Thanks for the reply. In terms of areas of interest, I haven't really narrowed it down yet. I think im more interested in an area where I could put my math backround ot use, I know im not interested in sales or trading however. In terms of programming I think I'd like to be in the middle of the range you mentioned, with good knowledge of programming but not stuck coding huge programs.

This is probably for another thread however, whats the difference between the work quants do and that of financial econometricians? I was told quants typically worked on the sell side and econometricians on the buy side?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

You should read the What do quants do guide. Link in my signature under master reading thread.

 

[Luis Molina]

As a practitioner that has hired quants in the past, I would recommend learning a scripting language for quick prototyping of models and GUI's such as Python, Ruby or even MatLab and a computational (compiled) program languages such as VBA, C++ C#, .Net (a little bit of .Net). These should be part of your arsenal as a Quant/Programmer. It is what I look for when interviewing a quant for a particular role on the trading desk. Any model that you can mathematically create you should be able to program yourself in an efficient manner and that is properly documented, so people can understand what you wrote.

 

[canadian quant]

Andy, thanks those articles were very helpful. I have a better understanding of the skills requried to be a quant.

However, short of majoring in computer science whats the best way of picking some of these skills. I have little room in my schedule to take a bunch of computer science courses. However I could take a course called "Introduction to Object Oriented Scientific Programming". Additionally, I could take a similiar introduction to C++ at a local community college, although I'm not sure how rigorous the course is.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Taking course is good. It tells people you are serious and committed.
However, like learning French, programming is a skill honed by doing. A course won't do you much good if you don't keep at it.
I took two courses because that was all offered in my undergrad. However, I was doing all sort of things in different language for various immediate needs. The internet is a great resource for it.

 

[canadian quant]

Well, good thing I can already speak french :D. So I take it an A in a programming course would look good on my application vs just self study. But I guess during an interview they would ask questions relating to c++, therefore exposing any weakness in programming knowledge, regardless if I self studied or took a course.

Andy, do you know where I could find any examples of c++ coding done for finance?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

http://quantlib.org/index.shtml

Have all the fun you can get.