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03:14 PM
Leon Sit
Leon Sit
Commentary
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Quant Job Hunting During Tough Times


There are many reasons to blame quants, correctly or otherwise, for the subprime and credit crisis. I graduated at a time when the crisis had just started. Job-hunting in a traditional quant area was nearly impossible for a new graduate like me. Almost every investment bank had a hiring freeze and the market was flooded with talented and experienced quants.

Although employers on the buy side are still recruiting, quants with investment bank experience were more attractive hires than I was. Based on this experience, I think it will be very difficult for fresh graduates to enter the financial engineering industry in the near future.

However, one should not be discouraged by current market conditions. I expect that the financial industry will become more quantitative after the recovery. I advise new graduates to look at what kind of opportunities the firm can offer you in the future when you consider possible employment. In the end, an education in mathematical finance will still enhance your career even in the difficult current market environment.

Back when I was studying in Texas, I wanted to be a mathematician who solved problems with quantitative tools. I knew I didn’t want to pursue a career in a traditional industry, such as actuarial science. Somehow I found out that I could perhaps apply my mathematical skills to finance; at that point, I was foolish enough to think that finance is just accounting with business strategies mixed in -- I did not find that interesting at all.

As my undergraduate life was coming to an end, I decided to continue on to graduate study. It was a coincidence that my friend introduced Rutgers to my list of graduate schools. That, of course, was not enough to convince me to move all the way to New Jersey from Texas. However after browsing the web site of Rutgers' Math department, I learned that a degree called 'mathematical finance' was being offered. That title was cool enough to lead me to investigate further.

After long consideration, I applied to many schools for both master's in mathematical finance and PhD in pure mathematics degree programs. I chose the MSMF program over PhD in Mathematics because I believed this degree to give me a stronger insight of quantitative application in finance.

As my classmate Alvin mentioned, MSMF programs focus on the mathematical aspects rather than business aspects of finance. I think this approach is better for my career path because it is much easier to learn about business by working in the industry. However it is not at all easy to learn high level mathematics while you are working. Now, these high level mathematical tools do not look so scary in the research papers I have to read daily.

After graduating with my master's degree in mathematical finance, I was recruited by Markov Processes International, a financial software and services firm that supports the fund analysis and portfolio management industries. MPI opened my eyes to opportunities beyond the derivatives business as my master’s education focused mainly on derivative pricing.

I chose this route because I believe there are fewer quants already in the fund management industry and software vendors are not quite so sensitive to market fluctuations. On the other hand, this industry provides a service which helps ordinary citizens to plan for their future. With these ideas in my mind, I accepted the offer by MPI as a support/technical analyst.

In my job, my mathematical finance background gives me the opportunity to use my quantitative skills to support more technical projects in my firm than would be possible with a traditional business analyst background and to quickly develop my career. During the first week of work, I was assigned a model validation project that used my coding skills. Moreover, with a background in mathematics, computer science, and finance, I was able to bridge the gap between traditional developers and business analysts in the office.

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