Hello,
I just quit my PhD in Physics with a Master's a couple of months back and have been looking for a job ever since. I've had a few interviews with banks, hedge funds and a few HFT firms but haven't gotten placed yet. I passed all the quantitative tests (teasers, puzzles, math ...) with flying colors but failed at either C++ programming (not fast or efficient enough) or experience (I only have a three months' internship). I've been brushing up on C++ on my own for a while but I really want to do real projects in a working environment. I'm willing to work for free but it's hard to find a position like that. Most firms don't care much about how much they pay you as long as you're competent so they'd rather pay more for someone with a lot of experience than have a fresh graduate (non PhD) volunteer. I'm also looking at some IT companies in the hope that I might work as a programmer for a couple of years and then switch gears back to finance. Does anyone have any advice on how to get the first job? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I just quit my PhD in Physics with a Master's a couple of months back and have been looking for a job ever since. I've had a few interviews with banks, hedge funds and a few HFT firms but haven't gotten placed yet. I passed all the quantitative tests (teasers, puzzles, math ...) with flying colors but failed at either C++ programming (not fast or efficient enough) or experience (I only have a three months' internship). I've been brushing up on C++ on my own for a while but I really want to do real projects in a working environment. I'm willing to work for free but it's hard to find a position like that. Most firms don't care much about how much they pay you as long as you're competent so they'd rather pay more for someone with a lot of experience than have a fresh graduate (non PhD) volunteer. I'm also looking at some IT companies in the hope that I might work as a programmer for a couple of years and then switch gears back to finance. Does anyone have any advice on how to get the first job? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Last edited: