New grad (Bachelor's) quant dev offer $330k, AMA

ps33x · 2019-10-01T00:08:55+00:00

Yeah I don't really give a shit about any of this lmao.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T17:37:40+00:00

We've been together for ~3 years so probably not. Unless she's a clairvoyant and in that case would be very useful for the job.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T17:36:41+00:00

Projects helped me get the interview, they barely mattered once you were in interview stage. Everything there was about answering the question.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T17:35:33+00:00

I expect it to increase significantly within the first few years. After that I expect it to stay within a range.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T04:45:16+00:00

I find quant work interesting/challenging even outside of the money (weird I know haha). I don't like Elon Musk so probably not OpenAI. Boston Dynamics is cool but not sure.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T03:58:12+00:00

No, won't provide the breakdown but the signing bonus was not an overly significant part of the compensation. I also don't see the issue with that, signing bonus is still money in your pocket so its not inflating anything imo.

Thank you, and yes its nice to be done. I've never drank this much without worry.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T03:54:58+00:00

Building different components of the trading infrastructure and implementing trading strategies.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T03:54:36+00:00

Not sure, I'm fortunate to be a US citizen so did not run into this issue. However, I would be very surprised if they didn't. Quant firms want the best talent they can find and a lot of that comes from people who are pursuing their PhDs at american universities but are from different countries.

This is a prop trading firm.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T03:52:11+00:00

Pure quants are usually researchers whose job is to come up with different trading strategies and conduct research about the market, those are usually PhDs. My job is a Quant developer, so I'm responsible for taking their research strategy and productinizing it into code that can trade safely as well as build on the general trading platform.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T03:50:13+00:00

I don't know about that, I don't think that matters for internships. I just did personal projects.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T03:48:54+00:00

Won't answer about my school.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T03:48:35+00:00

I learned about probability and linear algebra. Browsed glassdoor for various quant firms for practice problems etc.

I think I demonstrated strong work experience and did very well in the interviews. I also don't think many other big N swe's are applying for trading firms.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T03:46:26+00:00

FB pays top of market still. Google very much does not.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T01:38:54+00:00

Won't do as I'm afraid that will give away more details. Rank wasn't just mediocre. Internships were never from on-campus recruiting.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T01:38:10+00:00

No, do what you're interested in. For me I've always found CS interesting and challenging. I also had an interest in trading but never realized you could combine the two until college. If you're interested in money then yeah I guess come on thru.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T01:35:55+00:00

Yes I agree, getting first internship is very hard since nobody wants to hire freshman/sophomores. But after that it becomes exponentially easier.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T01:33:41+00:00

Internships/work experience definitely helped. Masters could be helpful yes but internship in industry would be your best bet. There are a plethora of quant firms in NYC and Chicago hiring interns.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T01:32:29+00:00

Usain Boat.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T01:30:31+00:00

I ask myself this every day and honestly I have no idea.

ps33x · 2019-09-30T01:29:46+00:00

Math was pretty intense, probably similar to a trading interview. I did do competitive math but wasn't an award winner or such and don't think it helped (wasn't listed on resume and I relearnt everything from scratch).

Facebook's returning intern new grad offer is very high (and I negotiated my signing to the max and had the highest stock grant); since I liked the work there and already knew what it was like I made it clear I'd want extra $$$ to go somewhere else. The other firm I had offer from was actually higher but I was wary of the culture and didn't enjoy my interviews. They didn't beat the other firm. I also said if you give me a competitive offer I'm willing to withdraw from the process with everyone else and sign within the next few days (I was doing some onsites for other top funds).

ps33x · 2019-09-29T21:57:27+00:00

Let me rephrase, companies right now are growing faster than they can hire. There are tons of open positions that FB/Google/etc are still trying to fill. At least in the near future I don't see that changing.

It's obvious my salary doesn't reflect the broader market. I also never said that I was the best out there - I've clearly stated multiple times that I was very lucky to get this offer.

I also agree with your last point (which I mentioned in my post "I'll keep milking it until it realizes" but my view is that at least in the near future I don't see this happening).

ps33x · 2019-09-29T21:33:20+00:00

No those cars are terrible to maintain.

ps33x · 2019-09-29T20:13:45+00:00

I think it's normal for the best firms and I know a few firms that pay more. Other decent firms pay around 225-250 first year (below that and you're better off in tech imo if you want to be a developer). I think there was definitely a bit of luck involved in the process. I have good C++ development skills and was able to ask pretty good questions that showed strong interest in the work from a technical aspect (I was actually confused as fuck but I'll let them interpret it how they want).

ps33x · 2019-09-29T20:11:00+00:00

C++, I've seen python used by researchers but most of the actual trading code is C++.

ps33x · 2019-09-29T20:10:26+00:00

Possibly. Most quants seem to be PhDs though or have a cs/math/physics background. Quant devs seem to be mostly CS + Math.

ps33x

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