Feasibility of landing a quant job as a fresh master of physics grad

T

TauLepton

Hi all,

So I graduated in June with a first class master of physics degree from the University of Manchester and am interested in algorithmic trading. Ultimately I would like to land an algorithmic trading position but I am not sure if this is feasible considering I am only educated to masters level from a "non-Ivy League" university.

To provide some context of my education and experience - my masters degree was highly quantitative and covered topics such as advanced statistics, programming (C++ / MATLAB/ python) and financial mathematics (mainly derivatives pricing) as well as the expected physics modules. My masters project was concerned with the development of a machine learning algorithm (Boosted Decision tree) to improve signal identification in massive noisy particle physics data sets. The algorithm I developed is a significant improvement on the previous industry standard algorithm (an additional 36% background rejection for a 95% signal efficiency working point). I have no experience in trading and have not completed an internship.

I am currently trying to familiarise myself with algo trading techniques and methodologies as well as the requisite technological infrastructure. QuantStart has proved an invaluable resource in this regard, I am focusing on the open source trading system that they provide, QSTrader, to further develop my understanding.

I was hoping the good people of elitetrader would be able to inform me on whether I stand a chance at landing a job and advise me on the best approach to take to achieve this goal. Any input is greatly appreciated!
 
Doesn't hurt to try. You don't need a phd or even a master's. You do need to know how to analyze data. R, python, ... send a resume
 
An post graduation internship is often a good way to break into that field. You sound like you're smart and almost have all the pedigree, which may not be enough to get you a job but might be just enough to get an internship. Once you do the internship people know you and the smart part becomes far more important than the pedigree part, playing to your strengths.
 
Being a "quant" is very broad. Is there something you want to do specifically? Do you want to be on the buyside or sellside? Do you like research, developing algorithms/models or maybe you want to be trading exotic derivatives?
 
Last edited:
Baron said:
@globalarbtrader

https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/fully-automated-futures-trading.289589/
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Very informative trading log and plenty of insight in the comments, thanks for the heads up!

2rosy said:
Doesn't hurt to try. You don't need a phd or even a master's. You do need to know how to analyze data. R, python, ... send a resume
More...

I want to be as prepared as possible prior to applying hence the reason I am trying to educate myself on the algo trading space. For my masters project I employed the ROOT data analysis package and the TMVA package for the machine learning component both of which are written in C++. Unfortunately these packages seem to be only used for particle physics analyses and therefore are not very applicable to algo trading or data science in general. I have followed a youtube course on pandas given by Sentdex and intend to watch one on scikit-learn but ultimately I think getting some hands on experience implementing strategies in a backtesting environment is the best way to gain familiarity with the packages and the independent modules a trading platform is composed of, would you agree?

Sig said:
An post graduation internship is often a good way to break into that field. You sound like you're smart and almost have all the pedigree, which may not be enough to get you a job but might be just enough to get an internship. Once you do the internship people know you and the smart part becomes far more important than the pedigree part, playing to your strengths.
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So you would advise that I apply for an internship as opposed to a full time junior position? I ask as some institutions offer both.

sle said:
Being a "quant" is very broad. Is there something you want to do specifically? Do you want to be on the buyside or sellside? Do you like research, developing algorithms/models or maybe you want to be trading exotic derivatives?
More...

Sorry for the lack of clarity. I enjoy research and algorithm development, alpha generation appeals to me, so I believe I'd most enjoy a quant research position. Would you agree that's the best position given my interests?

just21 said:
Winton Capital are recruiting in Oxford https://jobs.winton.com/, try ahl as well.
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A kind sole on youtube compiled a list of quant institutions which can be seen below, Winton is on the list but ahl is not so I'll take a look at them. Any other suggestions are appreciated.

Citadel - https://www.citadel.com/ Two Sigma - https://www.twosigma.com/ DRW - http://www.drw.com/ GTS - http://gtsx.com/ BridgeWater - https://www.bridgewater.com/ Renaissance - https://www.rentec.com/Home.action?in... Allston - http://www.allstontrading.com/aboutus Sun Trading - http://suntradingllc.com/ KCG - https://www.kcg.com/ AQR - https://www.aqr.com/ DE SHAW - https://www.deshaw.com/index.shtml Jump Trading - http://www.jumptrading.com/ Tower Research - https://www.tower-research.com/ Trade Bot - http://www.tradebot.com/ Virtu - http://www.virtu.com/ GSA Capital - https://www.gsacapital.com/ Maven Securities - http://www.mavensecurities.com/ imc - https://www.imc.com/eu/ spot trading - http://www.spottradingllc.com/ Hudson Trading - http://www.hudson-trading.com/ Qmassociates - https://www.qmassociates.com/ Alpha Simplex - https://www.alphasimplex.com/ Hiutching Hill - http://www.hutchinhill.com/ xr trading - http://www.xrtrading.com/ Accadian - http://www.acadian-asset.com/ Flow Traders - http://www.flowtraders.com/ RSJ - https://www.rsj.com/en/homepage Teza - http://www.teza.com/ Akuna Capital - http://www.akunacapital.com/ Tethys - http://www.tethystech.com/ Instinet -https://www.instinet.com/index.html Jane Street - https://www.janestreet.com/ R.G niederhoffer - . http://www.niederhoffer.com/fund_logi... Winton - https://www.winton.com/en/ BlueCrest - http://www.bluecrestcapital.com/ Ellington - https://www.ellington.com/ Headlands Tech - http://www.headlandstech.com/
 
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