- Joined
- 10/14/24
- Messages
- 1
- Points
- 1
Hi all. I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post this, but I thought I'd give it a shot.
I'm working towards getting a job as a quant developer with a sports trading firm, and given my circumstances, I am confident that I have enough time to go about building a portfolio to achieve this – I'm aiming for mid-2026. That said, I know how competitive this industry is, so if I'm overestimating what's possible, please bring me back down to earth!
Currently I'm at the very start of my tech career as a software dev apprentice at a large company in the UK, where I'll be almost exclusively using C# and .NET, but also SQL too. I write in the future tense because at this point in time, I've been exclusively working through the curriculum provided by apprenticeship provider (not employer), so haven't been exposed to any real projects yet, though this will change in the coming weeks.
The advantages I have are that, given the career I'm working towards, C# is highly in demand, unlike finance as far as I can tell. The disadvantages are that I likely will not have much work I can point to at my current job which will be relevant to quant dev, and (the big one) I don't have a degree. With this in mind, I want to create a stellar portfolio and do all that I can over this year and the next to become as employable as possible. For what it's worth, I'm working through the Probability and Statistics course on Math Academy, because not only do I want to learn advanced concepts, I also want to show that I do too – but I am open to other suggestions.
As for projects, I have in mind to do one accessing historical data from football fixtures, cleaning it, identifying trends and create models of how variables (such as weather/home vs away play/etc.) affect outcomes across markets, and backtest it to compare to bookmaker odds and see if value bets with a significant edge can be consistently identified.
If this all sounds very vague, nebulous, and like I'm not entirely sure of myself, there's a reason for that. I'm still piecing it together at the moment, but I'm enjoying this and I know that it's something I want to do.
I know that going from a software dev apprentice to quant dev – even if it is in sports betting – sounds insane, but I want to have a bloody good crack at it. Has anyone else been in a similar situation to me, built relevant projects to get them into the industry, or seen people who have? I'd like to hear from you if you have any comments or advice.
I'm working towards getting a job as a quant developer with a sports trading firm, and given my circumstances, I am confident that I have enough time to go about building a portfolio to achieve this – I'm aiming for mid-2026. That said, I know how competitive this industry is, so if I'm overestimating what's possible, please bring me back down to earth!
Currently I'm at the very start of my tech career as a software dev apprentice at a large company in the UK, where I'll be almost exclusively using C# and .NET, but also SQL too. I write in the future tense because at this point in time, I've been exclusively working through the curriculum provided by apprenticeship provider (not employer), so haven't been exposed to any real projects yet, though this will change in the coming weeks.
The advantages I have are that, given the career I'm working towards, C# is highly in demand, unlike finance as far as I can tell. The disadvantages are that I likely will not have much work I can point to at my current job which will be relevant to quant dev, and (the big one) I don't have a degree. With this in mind, I want to create a stellar portfolio and do all that I can over this year and the next to become as employable as possible. For what it's worth, I'm working through the Probability and Statistics course on Math Academy, because not only do I want to learn advanced concepts, I also want to show that I do too – but I am open to other suggestions.
As for projects, I have in mind to do one accessing historical data from football fixtures, cleaning it, identifying trends and create models of how variables (such as weather/home vs away play/etc.) affect outcomes across markets, and backtest it to compare to bookmaker odds and see if value bets with a significant edge can be consistently identified.
If this all sounds very vague, nebulous, and like I'm not entirely sure of myself, there's a reason for that. I'm still piecing it together at the moment, but I'm enjoying this and I know that it's something I want to do.
I know that going from a software dev apprentice to quant dev – even if it is in sports betting – sounds insane, but I want to have a bloody good crack at it. Has anyone else been in a similar situation to me, built relevant projects to get them into the industry, or seen people who have? I'd like to hear from you if you have any comments or advice.
