November 19th, 2014, 8:25 am
3. Normally people who think they are good at programming have perhaps a decent knowledge of the syntax of the code. In my experience however people who actually are good programmers are almost no longer aware of syntax, by which I mean they think in terms of algorithms, data structures and patterns. This is no different from a great writer becoming unaware of spelling and grammattical constructs, unless they deliberately play on them (which can also happen in programming). Most novice programmers essentially equate being a 'great' or 'good' programmer with being able to spell and avoid double negatives. It does not quite fly. However, once you are fluent with the concepts and math, programming is far less about syntax than it is about engineering. Normally, to be useful in the commercial financial context you have to get to this point, or at least have sufficient awareness of this such that you create code that is easy for other people to treat in this way without rewriting it completely. You can get an idea by looking at the programming areas of this site. Now, many people on there are really expert, so it is not a benchmark as such, but you will get the idea.4. It is a great route if you can get a proper quant role. Investment actuary could be a route but is marginally less favourable, since especially given your background, once you start down that route you will find it harder to get into front line investment (which is the most interesting bit by far). People normally say that you should shoot for starting out by doing the thing that you actually want to do. Generally its pretty good advice.5. Feel free to PM me.
Last edited by
neuroguy on November 18th, 2014, 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.