Something I've been wondering about ...

[DanM]

This may seem like a naive question - but why don't financial institutions have quants simply focus on developing the algorithms (for pricing derivatives for example) and have programmers implement them in C++ or whatever.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

They do. The programmers are called quant developers.

 

[DanM]

So what's the difference between the programming a quantitative analyst does, as opposed to a quant developer?

 

[Tigga]

Don't read too much into the title of a position. Many times, researchers would be the ones who code up their models as well, even in prototype langues like Matlab. Quant developers would then build/extend/maintain the system and move them to production languages like C++/.NET/Python/etc. The heavy lifting part is done by quant developers and quant analysts.

 

[DanM]

Don't read too much into the title of a position. Many times, researchers would be the ones who code up their models as well, even in prototype langues like Matlab. Quant developers would then build/extend/maintain the system and move them to production languages like C++/.NET/Python/etc. The heavy lifting part is done by quant developers and quant analysts.

Good response. Thanks!

 

[Buttonwood Group]

Hi,

i can't speak for other institutions, but we do this. However, we often require our computer guys and our mathematicians to meet frequently. This means that either our programmer has to have a mathematical background, or our math guy must have a programming background. Someone has to translate....