Hey everyone,Great community you have here! Just starting my first job search in quant finance, I've been invited to a couple of face-to-face interviews in the new year:- GMAG-AD at Credit Suisse, after passing a 1 hour email comp sci / c++ test.- Core Strategies and Equities Delta One GSAT desk at Goldmans, after passing two 45 min phone interviews (few probability brainteasers, algorithms questions, etc). Just wondering if anyone has any recent experience interviewing in these teams. In particular; since my background is pure comp sci with basically no finance experience, I'm wondering how much finance / financial math concepts I should be expected to answer? My intuition is that I should just stick to what I (claim to) know, but just looking for any comments you may have! Also one final question---I have an offer in IT from another bank that I don't quite want to throw away just yet; does anyone have any tips or advise in postponing decision making? Afterall, IT is better than nothing... right?=)Happy holidays everyone!!-w00t

John, could you please advise how you apply for these jobs: job fair/head hunters/ or through their website?Thanks,

john, if you don't mind, could you share your academic qualifications and experience? (just want to see what the usual qualifications are for these types of positions)

I got these interviews going directly through their websites (graduate recruitment). Although I've had a lot of calls from my HH; they've all been either (a) jobs I don't actually want, ie. sysadmin at hedge funds---wtf---or (b) jobs I'm obviously not qualified for, ie. any job that requires a background in finance. I just finished my education (for now=) with a MS in comp sci from a top 5 US university preceded by a pretty mediocre undergraduate education. Last two years was basically phd style research where I did a lot of work in fluid / solid mechanics and the relevant numerical methods, with publications at some of the top journals / conferences in the field. I guess I am somewhat of an anomaly as most of the people I'm competing with seem to have Phds, but hopefully now I'm at interview stage it doesn't matter too much. After all, my ideal job is really a quant developer over straight up quant. Hope that helps you guys!

Thanks John. As for postponing decision making, you can always say that you are waiting to hear back from other interviews, most of the time they are understanding of this, unless they want to be real douchebags about it. I am assuming the position starts in summer, if its an immediate requirement for them then i am not sure, sorry.

sri is right that at entry level most banks are understanding that you want to get it right, but you read as someone who is overkill for banking IT, and QD work ought to be there for you.If they say accept now or walk, I suspect you are in the walk set.Be aware that it is more than ordinarily hard to move from IT to quant dev in a bank.Not only are IT managers actively hostile to the idea, the reason they will like your C++ skills is often not because they have lots of interesting C++ analytics for you to write, but because C++ proves you can code in anything and they have this VBA data entry routing they would like recoded in Java.

QuoteOriginally posted by: DCFCC++ proves you can code in anythingHaskell?

Good point C++ is not a functional language.I suppose I mean magnitude, rather than direction. C++ requires that you have your wits about you, meaning that you could learn Haskell, F# et al.Of course the sort of functional code you write only having done a procedural language will be ugly, and so I am rigidly intolerant of so-called "ComSci graduates" who only know one language, or style of language for that matter, regarding them merely as arts graduates who fail to get laid.

Hi guys; thanks for your feedback so far. The IT job I've been offered has been sold to me as almost all c++ work; although I'm more than happy to rewrite their libraries in OCaml if pushed =) In actuality, it doesn't sound like the worst IT job out there, but I feel the general opinion on this forum (or maybe I've been reading too many of your posts, DCFC) is that quant dev is a much much much much much better place to start over IT. But why is the transition so hard to make? Is it simply a matter of fresh, useful skills from college rusting away in boring IT jobs, or do quant teams actively discourage hiring IT folks, or is it that maybe after a few years I'll be too overpaid in IT for quant teams to compete???=) Please let it be the latter...=)Then another question i have is whether the jobs I've mentioned (ie. gmag-ad at suisse, or core strategies at GS) are actually that far removed from IT anyway. Are these jobs still considered front office; with the relevant career progression and bonus pool and what not?Thanks again guys for your replies so far!!-w00t

yes, I would like to know too your opinion about the GMAG team at CS and the interest rate team at GS. Which one do you think is the better place to start as a quant (don't want to become a trader..) How would compare these 2 teams .. etc ..many thanks

Also, anyone have a ball park for starting salaries / bonuses at these places for quant dev? Thanks!

I have been said during the interview at GS that the salary as a quant was quite high compared to other places because the P&L was shared by the traders and the quants in a very equal way..

QuoteOriginally posted by: johnw00tBut why is the transition so hard to make? Is it simply a matter of fresh, useful skills from college rusting away in boring IT jobs, or do quant teams actively discourage hiring IT folks, or is it that maybe after a few years I'll be too overpaid in IT for quant teams to compete???=) Please let it be the latter...=)-w00tIT in banking serves for more than just the front office. In fact, middle and back office (transaction record, risk reporting etc) requires a lot of IT input. A bank also need people to run the data feed, database, client portal etc. Few years down the line, most IT folks learn little about the operation of the front office. In comparison, quant dev implement pricing/ valuation model. The end users will be the front office. This factor makes the migration from quant dev to front office a lot easier than from IT to f/o.

I onsite interviewed with GS two weeks ago and still have not heard from them. Should I just take it as I am rejected or I should contact them again to see where my application is at?

QuoteOriginally posted by: BlackSwan2I onsite interviewed with GS two weeks ago and still have not heard from them. Should I just take it as I am rejected or I should contact them again to see where my application is at?I'm curious as well. I'd also like to know if it is common for companies to just break off contact rather than reject you.