Quant Trader: Nature or Nurture?

[Cavas]

Hello Guys, I hope this post finds you all well.

I am a student in a top tier univ majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics in USA. I am enrolled in BS/MS programme, however, I will be only graduating with BS due to financial reason (e.g., my family could not support me any more with the school tuition, and I received an offer from recruiting), so I decided to start working after taking a leave of absence for my MS degree.

I am joining an investment bank's quant trading & analysis desk. I have a quick question regarding the quant trading field.

1.
Can a good quant trader be nurtured? Or are they born with such traits? I may be better in Algorithm/CS/math only by a little bit when compared against the regular traders (but probably not stand out when compared against kids in Ph.D programs, etc) but I am not sure if I would be able to survive in the field.. The boss who hired me said he saw the potential in me, but all I did was showing hard work since I really enjoyed the job during my internship.

2.
I want to prepare myself so that (as most people dream) I can be a great quant trader. What kinds of skillsets and characteristics are necessary? I enjoy challenge and learning new things, but I am not sure if my learning curve is as steep as others. I think I have superficial knowledge in Algorithms, Machine Learning, Machine Translation, basic datastructure, PDE/ODE/basic linear algebra and numerical methods, and some bayesian statistics, but I cannot say I know them 100%.


In Summary:
* What would be the necessary steps that I need to take? I know this is becoming very open-ended, but based on your experience, what kinds of attitude should I have as a quant trader?
* Also, can quant traders be nurtured or are they born with such characters?
* Does degree matter once you enter the field? (e.g., I have seen many HFs and certain Prop houses asking for a minimum MS degree; if I do manage good trading records and end up not getting my MS, would this be a problem later in my life?)

Thank you,

 

[pingu]

...Can a good quant trader be nurtured? Or are they born with such traits? I may be better in Algorithm/CS/math only by a little bit when compared against the regular traders (but probably not stand out when compared against kids in Ph.D programs, etc) but I am not sure if I would be able to survive in the field.. The boss who hired me said he saw the potential in me, but all I did was showing hard work since I really enjoyed the job during my internship.

dude, you are in. So work hard and you will be successful. Your mentality should "I'm gonna fcking own this s#!t" and push all your chips to the table. It's fair to be a little bit afraid but you will be fine.

 

[Ken Abbott]

Your mentality should "I'm gonna fcking own this s#!t" and push all your chips to the table.

Taking this approach at a big investment bank will certainly get you fired.

 

[mhy]

Hello Guys, I hope this post finds you all well.
* Does degree matter once you enter the field? (e.g., I have seen many HFs and certain Prop houses asking for a minimum MS degree; if I do manage good trading records and end up not getting my MS, would this be a problem later in my life?)
Thank you,

I suggest you try the field for a few years and then do an MS if you think you will remain. Lots of people get burned out in this industry.

 

[yetanotherquant]

I am joining an investment bank's quant trading & analysis desk.

Congrats!


In Summary:

* What would be the necessary steps that I need to take? I know this is becoming very open-ended, but based on your experience, what kinds of attitude should I have as a quant trader?

First of all do your job as well as you did it during internship.
If you don't understand something, first try to figure out it yourself but if you do not progress in an hour/day/week (reasonable time span depends on what you problem is), don't hesitate to ask your boss and colleagues.

* Also, are quant traders can be nurtured or are they born with such characters?

Both.

* Does degree matter once you enter the field? (e.g., I have seen many HFs and certain Prop houses asking for a minimum MS degree; if I do manage good trading records and end up not getting my MS, would this be a problem later in my life?)

Track record and practical experience is much more important than any f*cking degree.
I, myself, made a MSc (since it was a precondition to get residence permit in Germany) but I learnt much more by self-studying.

P.S.
Have a look at my book "Knowledge rather than Hope: A Book for Retail Investors and Mathematical Finance Students"
It addresses many issues that every rookie trader should know and I also briefly discusses how I nurtured my trading skills.

 

[alain]

I may be better in Algorithm/CS/math only by a little bit when compared against the regular traders (but probably not stand out when compared against kids in Ph.D programs, etc) but I am not sure if I would be able to survive in the field..

Read about the impostor symdrome You are going to be fine.

 

[Fer Carranza]

Read about the impostor symdrome You are going to be fine.

I feel this three times a week (I code for a tech start up now).

 

[Cavas]

Taking this approach at a big investment bank will certainly get you fired.

I know this question is very open-ended, and people usually don't like it... but please pardon me for this. What would be the best approach / attitude that I can take? Thanks for your response.

 

[Cavas]

Thanks all for the supportive comments. I didn't even know about the imposter syndrome @Fer Carranza, @alain

 

[Yike Lu]

The trader mindset: entrepreneurial, gets things done, likes to take risks while also respecting them, has an opinion and willing to back it up with money, conversely discounts opinions with no money riding on them, detail oriented especially with regard to possible tail risks.

 

[Jedison]

Taking this approach at a big investment bank will certainly get you fired.

If you interpret this attitude as arrogance then yes, if you interpret it as passion and perseverance then I completely disagree