Do I need a PhD in a quantitative field to get a job in algorithmic trading?

[lovethetrade]

Second (and probably more important), being at an established place will teach you so many things that you can't learn from reading books. Just being around people that have been doing quant trading for the last 20 years and are good at it will teach you so many things, from general concepts (attitude toward risk etc) to details like combining factors etc.

Believe it or not, that can actually work both ways. When you work for an establishment your thinking can become closed within a box and it's probably one of the reasons why Renaissance hires people with backgrounds outside the industry.

 

[sle]

Believe it or not, that can actually work both ways. When you work for an establishment your thinking can become closed within a box and it's probably one of the reasons why Renaissance hires people with backgrounds outside the industry.

From the perspective of an employer there is a benefit to hiring people with diverse backgrounds. The firm already has the people with industry expertise and it makes sense to add people who can think outside the box.
From the perspective of the OP, who has no market background, no experience developing strategies and no capital, thinking outside the box has little value. Before he can create his own approach to quant trading, he would benefit the most by learning the state of the art.
As a general note, thinking outside the box only helps if you own a box already. For example, ET is full of people trying to invent ways to get rich, yet through my years , I have not seen anything that struck me as genius.

 

[Sig]

Yeah exactly. Take you for example, what's it like hitting rock bottom in life? Also, Ive never heard the term "humping drywall", is that some type of slang you use in the industry or just one of youre freaky sexual fantasies?

What's your problem, you're acting like a total jackass here for absolutely no apparent reason.

 

[lovethetrade]

From the perspective of an employer there is a benefit to hiring people with diverse backgrounds. The firm already has the people with industry expertise and it makes sense to add people who can think outside the box.
From the perspective of the OP, who has no market background, no experience developing strategies and no capital, thinking outside the box has little value. Before he can create his own approach to quant trading, he would benefit the most by learning the state of the art.

Agree with this mostly but think people have different skills and there isn't one particular type of skill that's required to make money in this business. Youve got guys like Soros making billions that probably dont know one iota about quant finance or the japanese trader that worked out how the trading game is played and turned a small amount into 30 million.

 

[MarkBrown]

as far as i know there is no formal education that will ever allow you to be successful at trading. a business owner who understands profit and loss on a daily basis, value of merchandise, yearly goals while enduring months of failure. these are the most likely successfully educated who might survive trading.

 

[MarkBrown]

Yeah exactly. Take you for example, what's it like hitting rock bottom in life? Also, Ive never heard the term "humping drywall", is that some type of slang you use in the industry or just one of youre freaky sexual fantasies?

i hung drywall and did metal framing, went on to have 3 jets and a car company purchased directly from trading profits.

 

[sle]

Agree with this mostly but think people have different skills and there isn't one particular type of skill that's required to make money in this business. Youve got guys like Soros making billions that probably dont know one iota about quant finance or the japanese trader that worked out how the trading game is played and turned a small amount into 30 million.

You also got guys that happen to buy a lottery ticket at the right time (btw, Soros falls into that category somewhat, with Taleb being squarely in there). Unfortunately, it's very hard to attribute success in this business.

i hung drywall and did metal framing, went on to have 3 jets and a car company purchased directly from trading profits.

Is 3 jets enough?

 

[Sig]

You also got guys that happen to buy a lottery ticket at the right time (btw, Soros falls into that category somewhat, with Taleb being squarely in there). Unfortunately, it's very hard to attribute success in this business.


Is 3 jets enough?

A car company, like Tesla? Elon is that you?

 

[MarkBrown]

A car company, like Tesla? Elon is that you?

no much more modern cars than tesla. full carbon fiber and kevlar monocoque type cars that win a lot of races, yet us and european street legal. high end stuff.

 

[MarkBrown]

You also got guys that happen to buy a lottery ticket at the right time (btw, Soros falls into that category somewhat, with Taleb being squarely in there). Unfortunately, it's very hard to attribute success in this business.


Is 3 jets enough?

the car company came with 3 jets. there were 4 but one crashed. i never flew in them, they were just assets.