Weekly Megathread: Education, Early Career and Hiring/Interview Advice

[u/AutoModerator]

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.

[u/Gold_Sprinkles_4295]

My own path into quant research skipped the PhD pipeline — IT at a hedge fund, then running live trading infrastructure, then an internal promotion into leading quantitative R&D, where I led a team that shipped 100+ strategies, 15 of them live. Not the door most of this thread is aiming for, but it's a real one on the hedge fund side.

[u/DropParticular9346]

Just wondering, since JS does not have a typical Quant Developer role, how are the Software Engineer and/or Production Engineer roles viewed within Jane Street?

[u/Dr3ddM3]

I got to USACO Plat but will enroll as a CC(Community College) student. Is It possible to get a quant internship or will I get auto-rejected because I am a CC student ? Trying to get quant trading not dev internship. In the future I hope to get to UC Berkeley or CMU I would love MIT however I think I would lowkey have to win the ICPC. If I get into UC Berkeley as an applied math major I know junior year quant internships will be extremely hard without any previous internship experience. Only got into AIME(one time) though didn't make USAMO sadly. Would love the honest truth if the dreams of trading on Jane street or Citadel and making millions are over.

[u/ScottyExplosion]

Hello! Had no idea these threads existed, neat!

I've got a bit of a vague question (I guess) - I've got a PhD in Theoretical/Mathematical Physics and now I'm working as a Data Analyst at a local firm. I want to get ahold of a quant role (preferably remote but beggars can't be choosers), but just in general I'd appreciate anyone to give any tip, trick, help, advice, anything really, to help me focus on the right stuff.

In between breaks I'm going through The Green Book - what should my next step be? More learning or immediate applying? Anyone with a similar background?

[u/Current-Biscotti1245]

Throwaway for obvious reasons. I lied about my GPA just to see what would happen, then unexpectedly received a graduate software engineering offer from an Amsterdam trading firm, and now I am worried they might request an official transcript or verify my grades after I accept. Has anyone seen this during quant hiring?

[u/Turbulent-Past6765]

I currently have offers from IMC (Trader), Citadel Securities (Systematic Trading), and QRT (HF team), and I'm trying to decide which would be the best fit.

For context, I have ~4 years of experience as an HF trader/researcher at a prop trading firm, with fairly broad responsibilities across research, strategy development, trading, and portfolio management. My main concern is role scope. I don't want to move into a position where I'm primarily monitoring or limited too much to either alpha research or trading.

My current understanding is:

• Citadel Securities – Systematic Trading: seems to have a lot of an operational component
• IMC – Trader: seems more trading-focused
• QRT – HF team: No idea

For someone with my background, how would you rank these three in terms of:

1. Ability to develop alpha / do research
2. Trading autonomy and ownership
3. Career growth over the next 5–10 years
4. Quality of learning / exposure
5. Compensation and upside
6. Exit opportunities to other HFs / prop shops

Also, if anyone has first-hand experience with these teams, particularly at the experienced-hire level, I'd be very interested in hearing how the day-to-day work actually differs from the job descriptions.

[u/Flashy-qking → u/Turbulent-Past6765]

Great 👍

[u/Few-Ear2658]

Hoping to get some advice from this thread. Background: bad marks from a non-math high school, can't do a physical degree, so planning an online University of London BSc (CS or Math & Econ) plus self-study, aiming eventually for research/trading roles (not quant dev), fine starting at low-tier firms. Open to any kind of advice — education path, early career moves, anything at all.

[u/CartographerFlaky929]

What are your thoughts on Quant Technologist roles at Radix Trading? Could not find much online…

[u/Hairy_Situation_4074]

Hi, I am a rising junior studying Finance and Maths. I was initially working towards Investment Banking, but i have a strong liking towards Maths which makes me curious into looking at Quants. I was wondering if anybody knew what I can possibly do over the next years in order to improve my positioning. For reference, I don't plan to apply for positions as an undergrad. My plan is to get an MFE before applying for quant roles. I know intermediate python. However, I am willing to learn more advanced level along with Machine Learning. I was thinking of changing my career to an actuary in order to have a more suited skillset towards quant in order to apply for MFE or MQF.

[u/log-hou]

I’m a sophomore in college majoring in applied mathematics and computer science at stony brook university. I want to become a quant dev but don’t know how the hiring process is. Is it expected to have a masters or even phd? I am just trying to prepare as early as possible so I can plan ahead and maximize my chances to become a quant.

[u/Morning_Star_47]

SIG Problem Solving Assessment

Hey folks! Quite new to this sub. I got an invite for SIG's Problem Solving Assessment test on Hackerrank. There will be 17 sections and 60 mins to finish the test. I did Engineering but I graduated back in 2022. So, my math is a bit dry at the moment. Do you recommend any good resources (mimicking hackerrank questions) I could use to practice? I would be really grateful for your help. Thanks in advance.

[u/JellyfishInside7536]

I have been learning DSA in c++ for quant trader and analyst roles that require python can i do the oa's in c++?

[u/XxNinjaSlothxX]

Should I give up?

I am entering 2nd year as physics undergrad at Imperial College London. Since most of my friends want to become physicists and not work in finance, I only found out about this industry recently through the internet and I was planning to apply for 2027 Internship cycle. However since I am quite uneducated about this industry I only realised now that the applications open around this time and so I am very unprepared. In terms of my preparation, I am about half way through Sheldon Ross' "A first course in probability" and have started training mental maths about a week ago.

Should I bother applying this cycle? or should I wait till next year to apply when I have a lot more preparation and a better CV. What about spring weeks, should I still bother applying to them?

p.s. I know I have made a very stupid mistake by preparing so late and tbh I was and still am kinda of confused on what I want to do for the rest of my life.

[u/TenkaiRyo → u/XxNinjaSlothxX]

I'm currently in the exact same situation as you, entered second year undergrad, I knew about quant finance and year ago but seriousness has got into me right about yesterday. Even I feel extremely under-confident and I am not even sure if I'd be doing this anyways. I'm simply trying to force myself into touching every part of the domain for a few months to really understand what exactly is happening here , I'll make my decision after those few months of grind for quant