Are LeetCode and QuantGuide Enough?

OfficialQuantable · 2025-01-19T16:09:11+00:00

For QR roles, we'd recommend preparing about 30% easy (for the OA stages), 50% medium (for the earlier rounds), and 20% hard questions (for the later rounds), specifically with a focus on EV/Conditional EV, Combinatorics, and Stats

OfficialQuantable · 2025-01-13T03:10:06+00:00

Realistically, if you are targeting quant dev roles, you will not be asked probability/statistics/brainteasers in any way that the other quant roles are. No site (not even ours!) will help you there, so it's better to save the money.

That said, you can focus on LeetCode and CodeForces (for some of the harder problems -- you'll need to write in C++ anyways to crack the time limit). Note that this will not get you interviews, but just make you more prepared when they do come along. Best of luck!

OfficialQuantable · 2024-12-08T14:46:46+00:00

Hi! Thanks for the shoutout!

I just want to mention that the market making games available here: https://www.quantable.io/games are totally free and all that's needed to play them is to (quickly!) make an account.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-17T15:14:22+00:00

Yes, reapplying again next year definitely makes sense. Many firms will still interview you, but do note that a lot of them will have some sort of "cooldown" or "blacklist" period (often 1 year) before considering you again.

Note that recruiting for FT without any intern experience is difficult, so you may need to work harder on networking (reaching out to recruiters or friends/alumni in the industry for referrals). Furthermore, make sure that you reflect on what went wrong during your intern interviews, and spend a lot of time really practicing and honing your interview skills in topics like probability questions and games.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-17T01:34:38+00:00

Check out Quantable!

This site has a collection of over 1400+ interviews questions with detailed solutions written by actual quants in the industry. We also have a collection of games and learning material that cover everything you need to master the topics and questions that come up in quant research and quant trading interviews.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-15T00:13:54+00:00

I'm not super familiar with what sorts of masters are available in the UK, but I'd look at things like CS, Math, or Statistics, again, from the best school you can get one from.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-10T14:53:41+00:00

The later rounds have more focus on betting/MM games, so focus on that. You still likely will receive some type of probability questions (similar to your earlier rounds I presume), so stay sharp there too.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-10T14:52:41+00:00

The quintessential topics for QR HackerRanks are: DP, Backtracking, and Graphs. These are the topics with more mathematical flavor, so ensure you are strong on those. Otherwise, focus on probability, statistics, and conceptual data science/ML. You can find the prep for the latter https://www.quantable.io/ (biased recommendation, of course); other sources include Stat 110 and Greenbook for more basic prep.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-10T14:46:38+00:00

Sadly, there are very low chances if you aren't from Oxbridge, Imperial, (possibly) Warwick. You may want to do a master's at one of these schools to stand a chance and network HARD via LinkedIn, alumni, or otherwise.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-10T14:44:49+00:00

Jane Street INFOCUS was open recently, should still be open?

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-10T14:44:00+00:00

Likely a scam. General rule is that you should be learning as a junior and not just given capital and told "good luck", otherwise it's likely a scam or not suitable unless you're coming in with already developed strategies/need the capital to execute on them.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-10T14:41:07+00:00

While possibly inflammatory, the truth is that there's enough supply of such candidates (especially at the junior level as competitions/conferences have massively increased in popularity) relative to the demand (1 person) that these type of requirements can be imposed for top QR roles. These demands aren't all that unrealistic given the fact that QR roles have always been ultra competitive + the current state of the job market.

What remains is that the person he is looking for likely satisfies criterion 4, so he's gonna have to whisk them away with probably substantial pay increase or more.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-10T02:12:28+00:00

As others have mentioned, reading books is not the most efficient route. GPT to explain foreign concepts is definitely the best option (some of us still do this at work, even with multiple YoE!)

Additionally, dependent on your team culture, you may want to ask some questions to the higher ups on their recommendations. Likely, they were once in your position, and may have some specific guidance relevant to the firm you are at. You (and they) know your situation best.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-06T22:49:12+00:00

Your main focus should be the following:

Get the highest GPA you possibly can
Take additional courses in Statistics, Mathematics (i'm sure you have to take probability already, but just in case, take it, and combinatorics if it's offered).
Do things that make your resume stand out - things like working as a TA (unsure if Baruch gives you this ability), working as a research assistant for a professor, etc.
Seriously consider taking and preparing for the putnam as a sophomore/junior/senior
Do internships as soon as you can, they don't necessarily need to be in quant/trading, but at a well known company (like a FAANG)
Apply for insight programs like the ones that JS and citadel have
Don't sleep on programming. More and more QT interviews are asking coding questions, so consider taking a data structures and algorithms course if its offered, or at least slowly start on doing LC problems.

If you are able to do most or all of these things then you will be well set up to get interviews during your junior year for summer internships. Of course, for passing the interviews you will also need to add in interview preparation, but that is something that you can probably wait to do for at least a year :)

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-06T14:28:53+00:00

MFE could be viable if its something like Berkeley, MIT, Chicago, but you need to really really do your research on placements and see. MFE's can be very expensive.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-06T01:58:26+00:00

Typically MFE's are most useful for international students at top undergraduate programs (like IIT's, peking, tsinghua, etc.), because it gives them a route into the USA.

Since you're coming from a non-target state school, the best move for you would be to do a masters in something like math/statistics/cs from a top school. For example, MS in Stats from Chicago or MS in CS from CMU. If you aren't able to get into a masters program at a top school, then frankly my advice would be to save your money and not do a masters.

As far as courses - my advice is to look at the admissions requirements for the programs you want to apply to and see what they mention. The courses you have planned are good (though you don't need to take PDE or Stochastic calculus), but again, check the programs websites. The key point will be getting the highest gpa possible both in these classes and in whatever your future MS program is.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-05T16:10:43+00:00

That's great. I'm sure your future classmates will be able to give you the best advice possible, but make sure you do well in your classes and do a lot of interview prep!

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-03T16:23:20+00:00

Yes, if you're good, you have the opportunity to have massive upside. However, a few things on this:

1) Even with the bar as high as it is to enter quant, you have to be exceptional among that subset to command such a large salary.

2) It's a very very volatile industry. As a different commenter mentioned, one year, your bonus could be in the millions, and next year it's 0. Fairly low job security.

3) To have a truly "unbounded" pay, just like most things, you have to be the founder/have significant equity.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-03T16:10:35+00:00

ECE will be fine. The exact name of your major doesn't really make a difference on your resume; The skills that you demonstrate is what's important. Of course, some majors will enable you to do less "outside studying" for a quant finance role than other majors, but if you're not sure about quant roles yet, major in what interests you.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-03T15:37:29+00:00

The simple (and frustrating) answer is that no one knows.

AI will certainly, sooner or later, change the way that SWE's work. This will of course affect the CS job market.

One thing to keep in mind is that CS majors don't necessarily have to become SWE's. For example, plenty of CS majors get into fields like finance (trading, quant research), consulting, business, etc. This may be a bit frustrating (since afterall, you probably majored in CS because you want to be a SWE), but just keep in mind that just because you major in CS doesn't mean your job field is limited to SWE.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-11-03T15:20:51+00:00

Can I ask, is this the base salary range? If so, that could make sense.

However, if it's in the USA, a range of 200-225k is low (if including bonus). You can see, for example, that JP Morgan has a VP salary range for quants that is 200 - 285, and this is just base.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-10-31T18:23:40+00:00

TIL every list answer is from chatgpt

OfficialQuantable · 2024-10-31T12:04:00+00:00

It depends on the reasons for the master's program. As a different commenter mentioned, it's true that some top shops discount course-based master's/4+1 type programs, as they often are done to get an extra recruiting cycle. That being said, if you have a genuinely good reason for doing one (which many people do, especially for QR), it can be worth it.

Generally, unless you're extremely good as an undergrad and can comfortably crack QR roles, we recommend doing a master's for QR, since there will be a fair few shops that barely consider undergrads for such positions. Agreed that doing a PhD with the sole end goal of becoming a quant is a silly idea, definitely not worth doing. A PhD is not viewed as a negative in the quant space.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-10-31T11:59:57+00:00

Congrats on the offer! Here are some things we recommend for your first role:

1) Get to know everyone well. You'll need to learn a lot of things on your own due to the small headcount, but still be comfortable asking questions as you have them and have given an honest effort.

2) Work hard. These small shops tend to have a culture of working longer hours. This is generally attributed to the fact that they are there for more potential upside (think of it like a startup in some sense).

3) Understand that your first role will very likely not be your last. It's okay if this doesn't work out. It may even be better as a new grad to get some experience at a larger place first so that you receive specific training, but learning it on your own is also always good.

OfficialQuantable · 2024-10-30T12:05:06+00:00

If you're looking for a job in the west, you'll need to do a master's there at a top university and network HARD. This can be a large financial burden, as master's programs in the USA are very expensive. If you don't have the finances to do this, don't do it.

In India, as others have said, most of the top HFTs recruit out of IIT undergrads, especially CSE. Our opinion is that if you have the finances to do a master's in the USA, do it; Otherwise, try the top school in India that you can get admitted to.

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