r/quant • u/AutoModerator • Jan 05 '26
Career Advice Weekly Megathread: Education, Early Career and Hiring/Interview Advice
Attention new and aspiring quants! We get a lot of threads about the simple education stuff (which college? which masters?), early career advice (is this a good first job? who should I apply to?), the hiring process, interviews (what are they like? How should I prepare?), online assignments, and timelines for these things, To try to centralize this info a bit better and cut down on this repetitive content we have these weekly megathreads, posted each Monday.
Previous megathreads can be found here.
Please use this thread for all questions about the above topics. Individual posts outside this thread will likely be removed by mods.
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u/phildogga Jan 05 '26
i was wondering whether anyone knows of the value of high-level scientific publications (STEM-field, e.g. Nature or NeurIPS) in the application process for quant roles? Do they matter at all? thanks!
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u/akentai Jan 06 '26
Definitely for screening. Furtheremore, it's a general credential of research and strong mathematics level plus it may be a topic of discussion.
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u/Present_Roof Jan 06 '26
Hey everyone. A bit about my background. I graduated from Rutgers University with a 3.7 gpa for my BA in Applied Math back in Jan 2024. Been out of school for a year now and am almost 26. I work in health and safety. Right now just finishing up my Masters in Occupational Health and Safety with a publication of my algorithm for AI/ML for human motion capture.
I literally found out about quants and what they do by senior year undergrad 2023 and was doing math only cuz I enjoyed never knowing quants existed. Would it be too late for someone like me to get into the field since I know I can grind it out even if I need to spend a year or two learning? Or am I too late, under qualified or old to get into?
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u/Creqm Jan 06 '26
Hello! Iām incoming QT for summer 2026 at a more siloed firm and Iām curious how one would pick what asset class to trade, alongside what frequency (systematic, semi-systematic, discretionary).
I would love to know how any of you guys figured out what markets interest you the most. Iāve spent some time watching some youtube videos and digging through some forums, and I feel like I have some understanding of the different types markets and what they represent, but Iām not really sure how trading them is different. Are there completely different skillsets needed for one asset class vs the other? Are the skills not transferrable between asset classes? Etc.
I feel a bit lost as I donāt want to choose something that will lock me into an asset class for the rest of my career.
I guess this is sort of like a chicken and egg problem, how do I know which asset class is interesting without ever getting to trade one in the first place. Thanks!
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u/Available_Lake5919 Jan 08 '26
well u donāt pick - 99% of people ended up at a particular asset class, frequency etc by chance (which role they landed at first) and then just got stuck there
as an intern except for the few shops where u get hired by a team (and thus can pick offers based on what the team does) u get little to no say on where u get assigned
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u/Creqm Jan 09 '26
For my firm, we do get to list our preferences and they try to adhere to those. I guess looking in hindsight, do you have any advice on the different asset classes? Or even if you didnāt pick yours, do you like some more than others, or especially in the world we live now, will some asset classes, start to fade out while others rise?
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u/Available_Lake5919 Jan 09 '26
surprisingly yes (i have a feeling ik which firm this is)
if u get to list ur preferences the things iād consider
if certain teams/desks in ur firm are known to be high performing or asset classes that ur firm is known to be strong in
asset classes u find interesting to read/ learn/ deep dive into
ur skill set (if ur more of poker player/ discretionary type person then donāt go for systematic equities for eg and if u are like phd deep thinker donāt go for high touch options)
RO rates (if this is the firm i think it is then ro rates vary by desk and u might want to optimise on that)
as a general guide avoid crypto (unless u live and breathe it) and stick to more generalist classes like equities options etc
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u/Creqm Jan 14 '26
mind if i send you a dm? i have a couple of questions about what teams may be the highest performers and if thereās any way i can find which teams have highest ro rates
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u/InK5000 Student Jan 06 '26
Hello I am UK student who is looking to go into quant dev, I am now at a crossroads on making a decision on how to approach university. Here are my two options:
Option 1 - Study just CS
or
Option 2 - Study mathematics and comp sci (joint honours)
Which one do you guys recommened? I am more inclined to go with option 2. Another question is on what basis do I pick my optional modules in year 3 of uni?
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u/ArsonFe8 Jan 07 '26
Not very familiar with the UK in particular but from a global pov, go for 2. Beyond just increased relevance for quant roles (QR mainly), it also adds value to your profile for pursuing higher education if you later decide and in general keeps you open to other albeit related lines of work like investment banking.
For dev roles specifically though I don't think there's a large difference and eventually it'll just come down to which is the best uni making you an offer and not the stream.
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u/InK5000 Student Jan 08 '26
I'm also more temped to go for option 2, but I'm always going to keep my options open, thank you for your insights.
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u/alphantasmal Jan 08 '26
It might make a difference in how you prep for interviews. Pure CS you might not need to prep as much for system design or systems questions; Math+CS I assume algorithmic and puzzle questions will be easier. I would choose Math+CS, I think it's good to stay rigorous and abstract until you find your passion.
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u/iLoveIvey Jan 07 '26
Curious if anyone has interviewed with Flow Traders as an experienced trader and what to expect. Any color on comp and wlb would be appreciated!
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Jan 07 '26
[deleted]
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u/Creqm Jan 07 '26
They changed it to 3 games only this past application cycle. This seems to be the norm now, I wouldnāt think too much about this.
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u/ClassroomBorn2821 Jan 07 '26
A firm has reached out to me for a quant research role. They seem to want to completely skip any intro call and just have me do a technical interview. They said it will be a āpattern recognition math problem.ā I have no idea what that means. Can anyone shed some light? I know quant interviews have these brain teasers, but does their description narrow it down at all? Not used to such low transparency in an interview loop
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u/Zealousideal-Cook647 Jan 07 '26
Hi, I am a UK student in my final year of school. I have been rejected from Oxford for maths but I have been lucky enough to get offers for maths in Durham and St Andrews and an offer for maths and stats in Warwick. With Warwick being seen as a target university would this course be better for breaking into quant even though it is a joint degree or would doing the full maths degree alone be better from a semi target university? Thanks
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u/UnoptimizedStudent Jan 08 '26
Iām curious what working for Wintermute is like and how it would compare to the more mainstream firms like Jane/Jump/Citadel.
Iām a new grad with only internship experience before this. Any ideas on how the work life balance is and what the compensation is like? I donāt see a lot of information about the bonus structures and from the few entries on levels it seems that the bonus is significant compared to the base.
Also, in your opinion- is it a good move to start a career at such a firm? Or would it be better to go for a quant role at a major bank, hedge fund or traditional prop shop instead?
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u/Fox-chan123 Jan 08 '26
Hi everyone,
Iāve been invited to the J.P. Morgan Automated Trading Strategies (ATS) Super Day for a summer internship in London.
Has anyone here gone through this process?
What kind of interview questions should I prepare for )?
Any advice would be appreciated!
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u/Senior-Reception8110 Jan 10 '26
Quantitative Finance Risk Associate Graduate Program
Hey Everyone, I have an upcoming final round interview for Quantitative Finance Risk Associate Graduate ProgramĀ at Barclays , What can i expect from this round, what should i prepare for , any tips and suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks
Note: It's a super day final round interview
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u/Gravity1345 Jan 11 '26
Iām a high school freshmen really interested in quant trading as a future job what are some tips for building my future and getting my dream job? Would it be reasonable to major in math and cs? Or something else?
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u/yzkv_7 Jan 11 '26
How much and what kind of math do quants use?
Especially curious how it compares to data science. I've seen mixed things about this. I know there's a continuum. I'm interested in PhD level research roles for both.
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u/radstronomy Jan 11 '26
Hi! Has anyone taken the Wall Street Quants course and is it worth it? Has anyone been able to land a job through it?
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Jan 11 '26
I'm going into college next year and hope to get a masters in stats from the US (I'm Canadian) and hopefully work in the financial sector. Does anyone know if there's a significant difference between doing undergrad in stats or applied math? I'll likely be taking CS courses if not a minor as well. I've heard stats may be easier for GPA but app math is viewed more highly upon by grad school/companies, since I haven't graduated yet I'm not too familiar with what proof/theory heavy math is like and I don't want to tank my GPA if I'm not good at it at all. If anyone has any insight I'd really appreciate it, thanks
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u/Medical_Elderberry27 Researcher Jan 05 '26
How do hiring managers from hedge funds view quants from more traditional asset managers (say, Blackrock SAE) doing alpha research?
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u/ad_xyz Jan 05 '26
Not as good on resume as a standard quant hedge fund / prop shop, better than having a non quant job (maybe with the exception of researcher at top AI lab)
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u/OvoCurry3799 Jan 05 '26
Agreed -- obviously depends on the type of work, but also the hiring bars are very different at HFs/ prop shops compared to AMs that our team vets people a lot stricter when coming from places with much lower hiring bars.
Mandates are different as well (more smart beta, than alpha)•
u/Medical_Elderberry27 Researcher Jan 05 '26
We are doing market neutral equities (for institutional clients), not smart beta. Does that help? Or is it all the same?
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u/OvoCurry3799 Jan 05 '26
helps again, it's definitely a level above people who have no relevant experience, just that the level of transferability would be different, and the negotiation power on starting comp would be lesser than a candidate with relevant experience
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u/Medical_Elderberry27 Researcher Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
I am more concerned about having the freedom to move around than negotiating power rn. So, how feasible would you think the transition be within, say 5 YoE?
Also, what would you mean by ānon-quantā roles? How does the experience compare to roles at banks or middle office/support roles at hedge funds? Thanks!
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u/OvoCurry3799 Jan 05 '26
Hard to say honestly, depends on the types of strategies you're working on -- I would rank certain roles on desks in Banks higher because some of them work very will within mandates of certain pods at podshops, or systematic shops like QRT.
The only issue I see with AMs is that the strategies don't fit into the mandate usually (i.e. strategy turnover being too slow to transfer to HFs/props). And if that happens, then for a hiring manager, what's the difference between you vs a fresh PhD to hire?If I were you, I'd try to work on strats that are less dependent on proprietary datasets and make a concrete effort at thinking about the portability aspect of anything I'm working on.
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u/ImaginarySwitch2298 Jan 05 '26
Iām applying for maths at Warwick and imperial, if I get in, is it recommended that I do a masters and or phd afterwards to become a quant trader?
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u/Much_Somewhere7831 Jan 05 '26
For anyone with upcoming interviews, check out the Canary Wharfian Quant Interview Guide. I'm the publisher, so if you have any feedback, let me know and will incorporate into the next version!
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u/RainDragonfly826 Jan 05 '26
Happy cake day my belovely automoderator bot š°ā¤ļø