I just answered an emailed question. I suspect @KrisAbdelmessih @SinclairEuan @therobotjames and others get these too.
"I'm a smart engineering/CS/math student/graduate. How do I get into quant trading?"
A thread. 👉
1/n
"I'm a smart engineering/CS/math student/graduate. How do I get into quant trading?"
A thread. 👉
1/n
2/ I'm going to preface this by asking an important question:
Why trading?
Almost every outsider has an idea of what trading is that's pretty far from the reality. It's not "deploy cool ML models on gigabytes of data". It's:
Why trading?
Almost every outsider has an idea of what trading is that's pretty far from the reality. It's not "deploy cool ML models on gigabytes of data". It's:
3/
- Do I have enough cash margin in account JP44315A?
- Why does the data format disseminated by broker X suck so much with this new update?
- How do I optimize my tax footprint?
And a thousand other little annoyances. Plus:
- Am I about to incinerate $ somehow?
- Do I have enough cash margin in account JP44315A?
- Why does the data format disseminated by broker X suck so much with this new update?
- How do I optimize my tax footprint?
And a thousand other little annoyances. Plus:
- Am I about to incinerate $ somehow?
4/ Rarely, only rarely, it's something like:
"How do I deal with outliers a tiny bit better in this simple linear regression?"
"How do I deal with outliers a tiny bit better in this simple linear regression?"
5/ That said, you have two options:
Option A: Get a job at a reputable prop firm. There's a sliding scale of reputability. If they don't pay you a (good) salary, run away fast! Above that it's trying to get into the best place possible.
How?
Option A: Get a job at a reputable prop firm. There's a sliding scale of reputability. If they don't pay you a (good) salary, run away fast! Above that it's trying to get into the best place possible.
How?
6/ Be awesome at stuff. I'm sure y'all have heard me say it:
I want to interview anyone who's the 3rd best player in the world at some obscure chess variant.
OR
If you've done something really hard AND unusual AND vaguely related to making good rational decisions, let's talk.
I want to interview anyone who's the 3rd best player in the world at some obscure chess variant.
OR
If you've done something really hard AND unusual AND vaguely related to making good rational decisions, let's talk.
7/ Option B: Get a job at FAANG.
Make as much money in your day job as you can. Find people (online) that share your interests and who aren't stupid. Find other more-experienced people to learn from.
Make as much money in your day job as you can. Find people (online) that share your interests and who aren't stupid. Find other more-experienced people to learn from.
8/ Never ever pay anyone who claims to tell you what trades you should be doing. Run away! Heck, you can even ignore the people who tell you want to trade for free!
You're welcome, I just increased your signal-to-noise ratio by 40dB at least.
You're welcome, I just increased your signal-to-noise ratio by 40dB at least.
9/ Try stuff, try lots of stuff. Get good at creating and testing ideas. Maybe over time you get comfortable enough to make the jump.
But it's overwhelmingly likely you won't.
But it's overwhelmingly likely you won't.
10/ You'll enjoy your work at FAANG, you'll get married, have kids and other things will occupy your life.
Your kids' soccer team.
And that's fine too.
/END
Your kids' soccer team.
And that's fine too.
/END
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
