<t>More than 50% of the CS undergrads were pathetic -- several would have failed in (or not been admitted to) my undergrad program. For instance, one did not know how to read "(a V b) => c" a few weeks before his 3rd semester final, and he got a C in the course on "Advanced logic". Ha ha ha. My prof...

<t>ArthurDent: "This shocked me when I moved to the USA. Computer Scientists have almost no respect here, the smart kids aren't really going into CS -- they go to med school, become lawyers, or end up on wall street. (One of the main reasons I chose not to go to academia in CS -- can't get good stud...

<t>My perspective's very limited, but I don't think that trading on your own (E-trade, etc.) is going to impress people who will hire you for trading jobs, even if you've been successful. Senior traders are looking for people who can trade very large amounts of money and follow detailed instructions...

<t>IT (or anything that is not front-office) won't get you into trading, unless you're in a very small company. There are many paths that work. One is clerking (aka trader's assistant) which is what out-of-college trading jobs usually are: order-entry, trade-support, etc. Good clerking jobs are thos...

<t>QuoteWhen you're working for a corp you're always dependent on some other schmuck going for his promotion and ass-licking medals of achievement.Academia emphasizes individual achievement, rather than "I'll make you rich(er) if you make me rich" (through the roundabout way of giving me the skills ...

<t>I don't mean this to be flame, but... are finance jobs in the US really so much better than elsewhere as to justify the high demand for them? Or is it really hard to get work visas in the other countries as well?The US, speaking in general and average-oriented terms, makes people go through all s...

<t>In response to TraderJoe: I don't know that the corporate world requires a "thicker skin" than academia. They present different kinds of difficulty, and I'd say that academia is, on the whole, harder just because of the severe supply/demand imbalance. Certainly the corporate world has more "bolts...

Don't put references on your resume, for the reason given by jawabean. You can say "References available upon request", but I find this a little bit douchey (no offense) because that should be a given. Who would hire someone who wouldn't provide references upon request?

<t>You have nothing to worry about. It sounds like you were fired from a shitty company, which is much less damaging than being fired from a good one, at least in the case of personal firings (as opposed to layoffs). If you're axed at a good company, you're likely to have made enemies of people who ...

<t>Berkeley is one of the top MFE programs, isn't it?Junior trading: Very likely with persistence. You won't be making trading decisions in your first few months, but you can certainly get a "trading-track" job. Senior trading: Nigh impossible, since this requires trading experience, which you don't...

<t>It varies widely, but at most companies the raison d'etre for the internship program is recruitment of full-time hires, so the probability is usually non-zero. Interns are not, usually, fiscally gainful. If you're finishing an educational program soon, employers will also know that you are search...

<t>I don't think this opinion you quoted is remotely accurate. Perhaps back-office quants at mediocre banks are commodotized in this way, but from everything I've heard on the Street, the best banks/hedge funds these days (including, for example, Goldman and Shaw) value their quants at a level compa...

<t>Putnam top-100 != Putnam fellow, of which there are only six. I was nowhere close to the latter group, not even remotely in the running. (The questions are quite varied in difficulty and there's a huge difference between the two levels of attainment.) Putnam finish vs. advanced degree: obviously ...

<t>The good companies are pretty effective at figuring out who's a better fit for a quant role, and who's better as a trader, and making sure people end up where they are a best fit... which is, usually, where they want to be. A lot of quants don't want to be traders; for example, the people who ten...

I made it to the final round with D.E. Shaw, but didn't get the job. Contrary to everything I've heard about poor treatment of candidates, I felt really well treated and I really enjoyed the process. If anyone wants to compare notes off the board, feel free to PM me.