January 30th, 2008, 6:08 pm
QuoteOriginally posted by: ZmeiGorynychQuoteOriginally posted by: player2) is it a good place to be to move elsewhere later on? By move elsewhere I mean go and work as a trader in exotics..(Not Delta One desk)I wouldn't think so. If you want to be a trader, try to get yourself hired as a junior trader. Getting hired as a quant, especially back office, when you really want to be a trader, is a recipe for bad nerves and disappointments all around I'd say.Back office quant roles are not necessarily bad. It depends what role it is. If you are into cash flow analysis or similar risk management roles like Basel 2, then it is a waste from a trading stand point. At the same time, if you are into analytics role like building models or tools for measuring portfolio risk, especially tail risk, then there are huge plus points. If the portfolio is of options or some other exotic instruments, then all the more better. On the other hand, if you have a research quant job like equity research, fixed income research involving statistics, econometrics of advanced level, then you are already a strong candidate for a portfolio management sort of roles. It would still be difficult to find a trading job but many banks hire quants for their research and later these quants get to be traders or PMs. You need to keep in mind as to what you want to be in the long run. A boring risk management role may not be a bad idea today but if you are still doing the same for next 5 years, then you are only lowering your probability of seeking your goal.
Last edited by
cryptic26 on January 29th, 2008, 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.