Incoming Facebook engineer, what jobs can I get at Quant Funds?

[Nick Jonas]

I'm going to be working full-time at Facebook NYC starting August. I'm graduating from a top American university (hint: three letter acronym) this year with a bachelors in Computer Science and Math (focus on Statistics). I have taken PhD level machine learning, Masters level data science courses, theory courses in stat, probability, and modeling, as well a full CS curriculum.

I have realized that I want a job that's highly math, stat, and ML driven and not software development. I'm doing my best to make sure I get placed on an ML team at Facebook, where I'll be researching/implementing ML for a product, rather than a pure software team. However, even then, the upside for me seems significantly higher at a Quant Fund. I also think the environment is a better fit for me as I like working for smaller companies. In fact, the ideal situation for me, in terms of compensation and environment, would be working in a company of 15-20 people (think Town Square Trading). I'm not interested in Investment Banks as they are larger and more buearacratic than Facebook.

Given my background, would it be possible for me to get a Quant Analysis job without a PhD? What about a prop trading job at somewhere like Jane Street despite the fact that I didn't do it out of undergrad? Is being a developer the only option?

 

[yetanotherquant]

First of all, don't expect to have a luxury to do only research in a small team. You will have to do quite a lot of "boring" stuff. Secondly, a quant (or whatever) fund is for making money, not for doing a research. Many (most of?) trading models are really simple. And of course you should have a passion for finance and knowledge of the markets, don't expect to outsmart a market just with models (unless you are Jim Simons).

 

[Nick Jonas]

First of all, don't expect to have a luxury to do only research in a small team. You will have to do quite a lot of "boring" stuff. Secondly, a quant (or whatever) fund is for making money, not for doing a research. Many (most of?) trading models are really simple. And of course you should have a passion for finance and knowledge of the markets, don't expect to outsmart a market just with models (unless you are Jim Simons).

Research is not my goal. I'd rather build practical domain-specific models than study arcane aspects of stat/ML in the hopes of advancing the field. This is why I'm asking about a career in quant finance instead of a career in academia. Truth be told my ultimate goal is to make my own AI/ML startup, but I figured a quant career would give me a solid grounding in practical data science and ML.

What advice can you give me with regard to career progression. I've seen people get quant jobs with my educational background (though admittedly a small group). Can I pursue these positions just with my bachelors and some relevant work exp or is a PhD absolutely necessary?

 

[yetanotherquant]

Can I pursue these positions just with my bachelors and some relevant work exp or is a PhD absolutely necessary?

Yes, you can.
Ph.D. is only helpful when you have a real passion for studying and research. Otherwise it just dries brains with mathematical formalism.

Truth be told my ultimate goal is to make my own AI/ML startup

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