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benfetch
Topic Author
Posts: 1
Joined: February 24th, 2019, 12:34 am

30 yrs old too late to become quant???

February 26th, 2019, 9:24 pm

Hi there guys,
First time posting. I've been working in a family business in the betting industry since i left college 7 years ago (Graduated with a 1.1 from Engineering). I've been looking into quantitative trading lately as I'm looking for a new challenge career-wise. Have i left it too long or would there be ways into the industry. I still retain a strong interest in mathematics and have lately got back into programming for the first time since leaving university. I am willing to consider all options and i am very grateful for any help offered.
Thanks in advance
 
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Hansi
Posts: 41
Joined: January 25th, 2010, 11:47 am

Re: 30 yrs old too late to become quant???

February 27th, 2019, 9:34 am

What's a quant? It's just a label for 1000 different jobs. More recently data scientist seems to have become synonymous. Anything is possible, just try to not focus on a bank because they'd never look at your CV.
 
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Cuchulainn
Posts: 20252
Joined: July 16th, 2004, 7:38 am
Location: 20, 000

Re: 30 yrs old too late to become quant???

February 28th, 2019, 10:55 am

Maybe 'age' is not the main issue in 2019? For one thing, you will compete with freshly-minted Masters students who know a bit of maths and C++.

With all this AI and ML stuff  I suppose the more maths and Python you know the better. Things move on?

For example

https://quantnet.com/courses/
 
RBlasser
Posts: 1
Joined: March 11th, 2019, 9:19 pm

Re: 30 yrs old too late to become quant???

March 15th, 2019, 7:21 am

Hey @benfetch!

My situation is kind of similar to yours, from the stand of view that I´m also looking up for a career shift to a field where I can apply quantitative finance techniques. 

Perhaps our backgrounds are different, and also our current status, but these are my two cents:

1. Quantitative finance has a great variety of applications, maybe high-frequency trading is the most popular (even low-frequency too) but certainly not the only one. I recommend you, if necessary, to look for a general financial risk management videos on YouTube. Subjects as value-at-risk and banking models for Basel Accords compliance are very needed in the market (Worldwide).

2. In order to sharpen scripting skills, I have to recommend online courses. I recently learned that the most relevant language for quantitative finance is C++ (I´m not sure why), but you can easily leverage on Python/R finance low cost courses (datacamp, udemy, etc.). I read not too long ago about Julia, as a strong competitor for financial scripting (it even has a library for financial contracts)

I can just infer from the fact that you have experience in betting, that you might have a great sense for risk-related operations. Perhaps you could be interested in the fascinating world of options

Have a blessed day.