Honest Advice Please!

[ChadAndrews]

Hi,

I am writing to get some feedback as to how feasible it is for me to enter the world of quantitative finance, and how best to enter this area.

A little about myself:


*Work and live in Toronto
*Graduated from Electrical Engineering in 2004 from a top Canadian university.
*Obtained a Master of Applied Science from the same university in 2006 - thesis topic heavily employed applied mathematics.
*Worked in a technical capacity since 2006 developing novel signal processing algorithms and employing statical methods to characterize system performance.
*Authored/co-authored multiple conference papers
*Proficient in Matlab and competent in C,C++, as well as Objective-C.
*Patent author
*Technological hobbyist/entrepreneur.
*Supervised other engineers
*Commenced a PhD in Physics January 2013 part-time (estimated time to completion Dec. 2015). There is synergy between my focus at work and my thesis topic.
*Completed other endeavors demonstrating technical leadership.
*I'm in my early 30s

I am seriously considering taking a stab at quantitative finance. The reasons for this are:

*It seems I have hit the glass ceiling as an engineer who enjoys developing new signal processing methods and programming (although I haven't tried going for the Google/Facebook/Oil and gas jobs, which probably pay a little more)
*Although the supervisory option is open to me, I don't particularly enjoy it.
*I enjoy mathematics, coding statistical algorithms and providing expert advice.
* I am not interested in a job in academia, if/when I complete my PhD.


Now, I am looking for some hones advice as to:

1. What would be a good strategy for me to become gainfully employed in the world of quantitative finance?

2. Not unrelated to #1 above, which job, given my current experience should I target? Could I compete for a quant. job? Or would targeting a supporting role (e.g. back office) be a good stepping stone? How much could I reasonably expect to make in such a role?

3. What training would best complement my current level of expertise? Would completing my PhD make me more competitive, or would I be better served by completing come financial engineering training (e.g. CFQ)?

4. Would relocating help me to accelerate my career? Could I aim for a job in NYC, or one of the asian cities, for which I've heard it is easier to get a quant. job?

I know this is a lot, but I would appreciate any feedback.

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[MRoss]

Wow, I'm drooling just looking at your accomplishments! If you have any interest in QF go for it! You will rock. (y)

Just make sure you are confident, well put together, and know how to nail an interview. I cannot imagine your resume being passed over. Side point: I'm sure any MFE program will take you but I doubt you would need it to land a QF job.

 

[Lyosha]

1. Interview, do good on interviews, get hired.
2. Without exposure to the "business" side of things, back office or a graduate degree in finance would be the more likely entry point. You can try to interview as a Ph. D. for front office roles, but without reasonable knowledge of the space your search will be futile.
3. Training that would be releant to the world you are trying to enter. No clue about CQF. I don't know anyone around me who has one. Which might be a sign...
4. Getting a target would help you accelerate your career. At the very least from the perspective of what it is that you want to do. You don't seem to know the area you claim to want to enter very well...

You can aim wherever you want. Success probability will be varied. In NYC alone there are quant masters programs puking out 600-900 new "quants" a year by my estimates. Whether or not you can compete with all of them is not an easy question to answer. I suspect most can't compete with each other - many end up on one-way trips back home.

 

[Advait]

I would recommend that you choose your career path on the basis of what genuinely interests you rather than what has the highest earning potential. If you have not found what genuinely interests you yet, explore more. With regards to QF, take a Finance course at your univ. or try to get an internship. It would largely depend on your thesis topic. If its heavy, say, on Brownian Motion, you've got a shot straight out of your PhD.

 

[Jose T]

Out of curiosity, you don't mention anything about your work experience, so how do you know that you have reached the glass ceiling?

You may find that switching tracks, you have to go back to the entry-level for finance. So you may not be doing much better at first anyway. After that how you do do better depends on your performance but there is a bit of randomness too. People look at Finance careers as 'high risk/high reward' which means a strong possibility of poor reward if things don't go your way.

As a backup, you might want to ask yourself if you could go back to your old field if things don't work out.

4. Relocating may be necessary or at least finding a friend in the city you want to work in whose address you can use and whose couch you can use should you get an interview. There are also Canadian banks you could try right now for something.

 

[ChadAndrews]

Thank you for the responses!

With respect to my glass ceiling comment (Jose), I made a chunk over $100k last year. I am definitely not bragging about this because I know engineers in other industries can make more. However, knowing what I know about engineers in industries related to mine I don't think I could make much more without some significant sacrifices. Now, if I were to change engineering fields I could make more. But really, if I were to change fields at all, I would go into quant. knowing what I do about the profession (albeit much less than you folks)!

To address your feedback (Lyosha/Advait), what is a good resource to get up to speed on different quantitative finance roles that I might be interested in? I've looked at different forums, articles and websites, but I'm wondering if there is a better approach. Also, is there a suggestion you could provide that would result in making contacts - I'm in the Toronto area.

Best regards and thanks! Also, if any others wish to to provide their two cents I'm all ears!

Andrew

 

[Andy Nguyen]

what is a good resource to get up to speed on different quantitative finance roles that I might be interested in?

quantnet.com/guide

 

[ChadAndrews]

Thanks Andy, do you have any words of wisdom you could offer?

 

[peter pan]

i recommend that you take a look at http://jobs.oanda.com

they are located in toronto, so you wont need to relocate.

they are primarily a retail foreign currency trading broker.

they are fairly well funded, as they are pretty much owned by the cascade investment group, this is pretty much mr bill gates's private holding company, lol..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascade_Investment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oanda_Corporation

enjoy...

peter pan/.

 

[alain]

... However, knowing what I know about engineers in industries related to mine I don't think I could make much more without some significant sacrifices.

This concerns me. Maybe I'm getting the wrong idea but what makes you believe you won't be making the same sacrifices (or worse) by switching to finance?

 

[Barny]

Your stated motivation for career change and the reasons you gave in support of your motivation are inconsistent.

It sounds to me as if you want more money rather than particularly care about working in finance. Signal processing, statistical algorithms, maths are means to an end. What is the end that you want to pursue? You know relatively little about finance at present. You need to do more research.