Hi all,I finished my masters in FM from U of C last June and I have taken a job with a consulting firm. My firm provides consulting to insurance companies, who wish to hedge their risky life insurance guarantees (which behave like exotic derivatives). Technically I have a research role, I am in the process of updating their current models to be more market consistent. I program mostly in C++, VBA, and Matlab and probably 70% of my time is spent coding and the rest is spent reading papers, journals, etc.... I work with people from diverse backgrounds (phd's masters, ect...) but most come from an actuarial world, only a few are from a strict finance background. Therefore, I do not really have a mentor and most of my research is done on my own. I do have people that I can ask questions about general dynamics of financial and insurance products, and I have access to my former professors from the program who I consult when I'm stuck somewhere.Sorry for the rambling, but I guess my question is this: Will this type of experience damage my career? I know that similar roles on wall st. are primarily held by seasoned phd's, but if I wanted to transition to the street, I would aim for a jounior quant/developer role. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.-a

"damage" is not quite the right word for your current position, but the longer you stay, the more people will pigeon hole you.Not only is a transition to quant programmer quite feasible, if you were in London we'd be pestering you for your CV.What numerical methods are you using ?

My firm mostly uses Monte Carlo methods because of the highly path dependent nature of the products we hedge. I have used various equity and fixed income models with this method. However, I am currently working on a 2 factor FD solver to value a Mortgage Servicing portfolio. First cut will be in Matlab, then we will transition it to C++. I am trying to get them to use FD whenever they can because of all of the computational advantages of this method, plus the fact that we calculate all of the greeks with monte carlo, where in FD you get some of them automatically. Thanks for the reply, I was reflecting on my decision to work for a non "brand name" firm. The offer my firm gave me was far better than any other offer I recieved from some of the brand name companies (not only monetarily but the actual position/responsibilities I have). This makes me feel better about the decision.

I was in a similar situation, but i think DCFC is right, as i have moved to a more of mainstream wall street kind of role.Also, at times you may have felt that to grow within your current organization, you may need to be an actuary.

Good to know others have traveled the path. I love the work I am doing now but exactly as you say, I do not want to become an actuary. This was my biggest 'pigeonholing' concern on the onset, but my firm has been very cooperative with the fact that I do not want to have anything to do with the actuarial mathematics, just financial mathematics and modelling.devilish, if I may ask, how long were you in a similar situation before you moved to the street?