HFT Careers and How to Get Into High Frequency Trading

[Mr Doe]

Advices on how to break into HFT (Mike interviewed DominiConnor while ago); http://highfrequencytradingreview.com/expert-interviews/

You may have to register in order to get the file (I'm not affiliated with The HFT review).

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I didn't have to register
http://highfrequencytradingreview.com/pdf/DominicConnor-HFTR.pdf

 

[Mr Doe]

Yes, thank you Andy . Basically, I was trying to get people over there, so they can have access to more valuable info about HFT (not just Dominics' interview) and I felt obligated to give credit to The HFT review. Furthermore, if you register you get updates to your email.

 

[drailing]

Thank you very much for posting this! I was about to make a thread asking many of the questions asked in there, so it was very helpful.

I have 2 questions about its content.
1.) Would firms hiring Algo Traders want to hire people who have worked at the NSA for the same reasons they like CERN people?
2.) Would people from petroleum engineering backgrounds who have to model fluid flows and other things have a shot at HFT jobs?

 

[Jim]

What's CERN? (I did google search, but couldn't find out what it was. just tell me real quick!)

 

[Andy Nguyen]

What's CERN? (I did google search, but couldn't find out what it was. just tell me real quick!)

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=cern

 

[alain]

What's CERN? (I did google search, but couldn't find out what it was. just tell me real quick!)

I don't know if I should be stunned or start crying

 

[GoalSeeker]

Thnx for sharing.. was helpful

 

[AWilliams]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=cern

Lmao; this is great.

 

[Andy D.]

What's CERN?

The European Nuclear Research Centre, which is based under the French, Swiss border.

 

[Alexander Krosky]

You can go to the sell-side first, or in general a job where you learn a lot about trading, and then cross over to the buy-side later. Seems less roundabout than going to a phd program in a specialized field where most of your research will be arcane and irrelevant to trading.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Thought you guys may like this paper.
http://www.conatum.com/presscites/HFTMMI.pdf
By Frank J. Fabozzi, Sergio M. Focardi, and Caroline Jonas*
This paper discusses the state of the art of high-frequency trading (HFT), its requisite input, high-frequency data (HFD), and the impact of HFT on financial markets

 

[daleholborow]

Article (don't think anyone else has posted it yet), on the tools, programming languages etc used in high frequency trading industry.

http://adtmag.com/articles/2011/07/29/why-hft-programmers-earn-top-salaries.aspx

 

[DominiConnor]

Anyone who doesn't know what CERN is should not send me their resume for any job, and certainly not for HFT.
Other Q's:
1.) Would firms hiring Algo Traders want to hire people who have worked at the NSA for the same reasons they like CERN people?
Yes though of course it would vary with what you did. They like signal processing , problem solving (a lot), good maths in general and programming skills. The particularly like poeple who don't need a formal specification, and who are comfortable working in an environment where the "specfication" is "exploit this".

It's hard to get into the NSA which also acts as a filter since employers like people who have shown they win in competitive environments.

2.) Would people from petroleum engineering backgrounds who have to model fluid flows and other things have a shot at HFT jobs?
Yes, though fluid flows are typically PDEs which favours classical Wilmott-style finance.

 

[latency]

most hft firms in chicago hire kids right out of college from places like mit, princeton etc. the ones focused on hft equities etc typically expect you to have good programming skills or statistics and some scripting skills. the ones in hft options trading don't care as long as you are smart. i am not sure you need advanced degrees to be in this business. you will be surprised how many people know what CERN is in the chicago hft industry.