May 30th, 2013, 9:35 pm
It is entirely possible, but you will need to brush up your CS, especially algorithms and data structure. This is what interviews at major software companies are about. Companies like Google or Facebook never ask for Hadoop certificate or any other certificate, they are just looking for very smart people who also happen to be good programmers. There are plenty of Math and Physics PhDs working there. You don't need a CS degree. There is a good book "Cracking the coding interview" which you absolutely should buy in case you follow this path.Your motivation is not entirely clear though. If you just want to move from NYC, you can find a finance job elsewhere. On the other hand, there are plenty of jobs at major tech companies in NYC. You might find it easier to get a job locally. Major tech firms also don't use external headhunters.