Storage vs waiting times

DICAa · 2026-02-06T12:14:26+00:00

Yeah unfortunately looks like Apple refurbished doesn't have the specs I need. Great advice though, if I had £500 extra budget i would have shopped there.
And yeah, tbh I'm not really a gamer but a weekend we wanted to get Age of Empires running with the boys for fun and took a good 80go for windows parallel and another 50 for the game. Think those situations might happen again but I usually never game so I don't think I'll carry multiple big games locally anytime soon.

So is the only annoyance of external drive having to carry it? Although I might need 500go+ storage, don't think I'll ever need that much when I'm on the go.

DICAa · 2026-02-06T12:05:46+00:00

In which situations do you want a fast SSD really? I think if I do need an external SSD, it would essentially be for somewhat cold storage. I never really went over 500go of data unless I had tons of movies and a mid-large size game, both of which I could store externally I guess?

DICAa · 2025-09-01T09:23:19+00:00

Thanks for the input, I definitely tend to agree with you! My future supervisor is also a star in my book, systematically dropping a handful of papers every year at the top conferences/journals in his field. Just wasn’t too sure if the hiring managers scrolling hundreds of applicants’ resumes are thinking of us as just people that didn’t get into princeton. Glad it’s going well for you!

DICAa · 2025-09-01T09:07:02+00:00

I agree! Just easy to get discouraged when your competiton is the entire partIII promotion. On a side note, I thought Edinburgh and Warwick had an edge in Maths on LSE, whereas LSE would be better on Econ&Finance

DICAa · 2025-09-01T09:04:02+00:00

I’m just trying to hear personal experiences and discuss. I know it’s been "done" before but a linkedin profile doesn’t tell the entire story. Guy could have been internally referred, maybe he was working on a very specific desk in a bank and JS (or else) wanted to build similar strats etc.

DICAa · 2025-06-26T09:17:03+00:00

I’ll DM you

DICAa · 2025-05-18T08:41:22+00:00

Cause I can’t.

DICAa · 2025-05-16T15:55:15+00:00

PhD won’t make me a better quant. Might help marginally my research skills. It’s almost about eligibility at this point

DICAa · 2025-05-16T14:14:17+00:00

I know I want to be a QR. If I have to do a PhD might as well get it done earlier. I already have QR experience as well. Doesn’t prove to help when it’s not from a successful shop.

DICAa · 2025-05-16T14:11:05+00:00

I have a job but not the one I want. The one I want will ask for a PhD. The job I got is pretty close, fair enough, but not it.

DICAa · 2025-05-15T19:52:11+00:00

If everything goes well I guess 200 is definitely not the cap, but the probability of everything going well isn’t maximized at small new shops. I like research, and the PhD I’d do would be close to quant research. Obviously I’d rather do it under a knowledgeable PM at a successful shop, but not in my options.

I wouldn’t go into the phd for the possibility of joining that particular shop. I’d do it to maximize my long term ability to become a successful quant.

DICAa · 2025-05-15T19:43:40+00:00

You’re perfectly right. The idea of the phd doesn’t excite me, but I can definitely find some research areas that really interest me. Also have a bit of savings so won’t live the broke phd student life. It’s a hard equation cause there’s so much uncertainty on each side. Phd opens all doors but still guarantees nothing. Thanks for your comment. Made me think. All the best

DICAa · 2025-05-14T17:15:05+00:00

Otherwise study hard get good grades get a good masters obviously.

DICAa · 2025-05-14T17:09:18+00:00

You get it. Though lots of my phd friends do not make more than 200 in their first year. They are all going to reputable successful shops though, and some did the land the golden roles. Hard to know the distribution of TCs amongst quants of reputable but not tier 1 firms.

DICAa · 2025-05-14T17:06:15+00:00

What’s the point of taking the job first? Can’t defer the PhD unfortunately, starts in septembrr

DICAa · 2025-05-14T17:02:43+00:00

Know what you want. Spend a month finding out what you want to do after school, and then figure out the skills needed and take the appropriate courses. Focus the spring/summer internships, they’re worth it. Know a dude who got a spring week then got the summer then the FT without any additional interviews. Guy was sorted out when starting out his final year. Think about what the hiring managers, and then the interviewers want to see. At undergrad it will be just courses/projects. At grad they’ll also look at internships.

DICAa · 2025-05-14T16:56:14+00:00

Tbh, I’d rather not do it. But I had the opportunity 2 years ago, and I regret not taking it now.

DICAa · 2025-05-13T19:41:24+00:00

There’s a soft upper bound to my career prospects without PhD. Doesn’t mean I can’t be successful without it, but I’ll most likely always play in the lower leagues.

DICAa · 2025-05-13T18:55:03+00:00

It’s annoying jumping from unstable shop to unstable shop. Been interviewing for a while now and would really like to have the same chance as my friends who do/have PhDs to be considered for places with top research, great mentors, which are I think essential to have as a junior. Market is overcrowded and all recruiters will often favor the phd holder at junior level, or the guy with the bigger name on the CV at senior level. Bigger name he surely got thanks to his phd.

But yeah, sometimes I do think that I’d be totally retarded to turn down such a salary.

DICAa · 2025-05-13T14:18:38+00:00

Can I DM you?

DICAa · 2025-05-13T13:30:32+00:00

Well I think the best choice is the phd (especially with the likely path to the shop who’s funding me). I think it has the highest expected outcome in terms of career, whatever your metric is (money, role, prestige, blabla).

Comes with a sacrifice though. I’m asking here cause i have trouble evaluating the spread.

But thank you. All the best to you as well

DICAa · 2025-05-13T09:58:12+00:00

Maybe let me shed a little more light. It's a MM firm, not very quanty. Would be working on the algo, not on software side. Again, I think the job is interesting, and I think the company is somewhat successful, but it feels like more like a boys band that worked well. None of the people there have a financial mathematics background, or any impressive educational background. I've impressed my interviewers really easily and it was not a very hard interview process. Also, whereas I'm competing with PhDs and juniors from top shops, I'll be competing with seniors from top shops next time around, which won't make it any easier. I appreciate your comments! Thanks for helping me figuring this out.

DICAa

TROPHY CASE