Hedge fund to Asset Management

[Phil]

Hello Quantnet,

Just another quant here. Maybe not for long. I am looking for career advice in the following. For those who have done it, or know someone who has done it, what is your take on going from hedge fund trader to asset management (AM). Put differently, going from a quant trader whose mandate is to find his own automated strategies, backtest them and if good, run them using optimal execution to someone who talks to investors and get them to invest in the fund where he'll seed the capital to other hedge funds and diversify.

Here are the few comments and questions on my move:

1. I'm currently in quant trading. I do not dislike what I'm doing. However, I doubt I can do mathematical research and coding for the next eight years.

2. I would like more human interaction in my daily routines. Right now, it is C++, Sql and Excel all day.

3. Moving away from the coding, I still want to remain in investments. Therefore, what I hope I'll do in AM is developing a more macro view of the market. More economics, more finance theories, more models and less coding, less candlesticks, less number crunching. (Now I could be wrong in this scope of AM. Please correct me if I'm painting a rosy but wrong picture)

4. I am from top 10 US school, am working in small no-name hedge fund in Asia, and have some published research. My plan is to get a quantitative related MBA, in the March window if possible, and then to AM. It's too late for me to do IB but I hope that's not required for AM. Feasible?

5. Will someone in AM ever get to put on a trade? (I've been wondering about this for the longest time.)

Any feedback is welcomed.

-Phil

 

[daleholborow]

There are several head hunters on this forum who would almost certainly be interested in talking to you.

 

[IntoDarkness]

m7 will fulfill ur career transition, especially booth, harvard and stanford (probably not kellogg) if they take u. the mba admission process is quite random and trendy. currently, they swing to recruit more tech/entrepreneur type while reducing spots for finance candidates (perticularly traders, as they provide the least transferrable skillsets and experience into the classroom). i think u might want to widen ur career options and include mbb consulting (they do quant type stuff for financial services and pay pretty good) into ur consideration

 

[Phil]

Thanks IntoDarkness for your feedback.

I was looking at Wharton actually, mainly because they specifically offer a major in Statistics. They also have MBA dual-programs and a MA in Math in the Math Department. However, whether it is possible to combine a MA in Math with a MBA is debatable. I see more macro analysis of the market requiring a statistics component. I do love math anyway.

Nonetheless, thank you for the tip on the trend of MBA's accepting more tech and entrepreneurship type people. I'm certainly not the latter but I've been dabbling on some mobile app development.