Hi guys,I am a master student in financial math. And I recently got an internship/part-time job. But the job seems not related to financial market. It actually relates to sports game. And the primary responsibility is to manage, develop, and refine algorithms, databases, statistical validation frameworks and backend systems to support analytic products and services. How do you guys think that this working experience would help me to get a real quantitative analyst job in financial market upon graduation? Or do you guys think that the hiring manager in quant role will appreciate internship experience like this? I actually have tried to apply some quant internship but no reply. Maybe because I am lacking of experiences. I appreciate you guys' advice and opinions.

What is wrong with with sports analytics? It may very well have a better future than traditional quant jobs.

Thanks, bearish. Yeah, sports analysis is very interesting and has great future. Actually there is a science of football. But my career plan is to do quantitative finance like pricing instruments. I just want to gain some technical experience and data analysis experience in this job. And I was wondering whether quant finance industry will treat this experience as a plus.

betting ?

Sports analytics is a growing field and would probably be more interesting than being a sell-side quant (particularly if you're more into data analysis and algorithm development than C++ coding), but I would be slightly concerned about the future career path since its so new and wont look as good on your CV as more traditional quant work if you wanted to move back into finance. Finance will still exist and pay decent money in 20 years time, but who knows what the sports betting industry will be like. Basically it seems like a higher variance position. Personally if salaries were the same I'd take it over a non-trading/research quant position but it really depends what your other options are and what you want to be doing in 10 years time.However if you're just talking about an internship rather than a permanent job then of course it will be valuable. Its unlikely to look better on your CV when applying for quant jobs than a summer internship at an ibank, but if none are giving you offers then it seems like the next best thing.

What does sports analytics pay anyway? I saw some William Hill adverts last year that were offering a comparable base salary to quant work, but does it have the same upside? Are the guys who have been doing this for 5-10 years in the sporting equivalent of prop shops getting anything comparable to FO/buy-side quants with similar experience?

You may want to take a look at Aaron's Red Blooded Risk book. There is a chapter where he goes into some detail about different sport betting strategies, and he certainly considers it relevant to trading and risk management. If memory serves me right, he also advocates making it a standard part of the curriculum of MFE type programs.

Thank you so much, Eriatarka. It seems that what I thought when I applied for the internship is right. Sport analysis and quantitative finance share some analytical similarities. And I can gain some industry-based experience in this job. I'll definitely devote as much as possible in the job. And for the salary, I have no idea about it. The person you are talking about may be the actuarial in those betting game. I am just going to do some analysis supporting betting, team performance and transferring. And from my experience, I got almost the same payment as those friends with internship in trading or investment consulting job.

figoliuxi,The comments here are all fairly sensible. I'd definitely focus on the job as it is mathematically intersting - the main thing I've learnt in life is that there is no such thing as certainty with jobs, so you can't put too much emphasis on predictions on industries. On that basis I wouldn't be into using a job as a "stepping stone", as you'll probably have to restart at the bottom when you become a quant or even do it by getting contract/temp experience at a low rate, which you may not be able to do later in life if you have commitments. Holding out for a quant job isn't too bad if this betting job doesn't work out.Rather than be "glad with what you got", you probably should be glad from what you have gained from your financial training which I hope is a fundamental understanding of risk and uncertainty that makes you aware of how little you can hold onto. Unfortunately (speaking from experience) it doesn't exactly take from the stress, but most people in FServices are usually better prepared to accept it when they lose their job than some people in other industries, considering how often we analyse stress/market crash scenarios.Also good to hear this non-finance job is mathemetical and not something like Junior Pencil Sharpener at Piddly Random Company Ltd or something that could be potentially poxy for a mathematician like hedge fund accountancy (I know an ex-string theorist who is an accountant).

Thanks Bearish. I'll definitely check out this book in time. And this is cool if we have elective course in betting strategy or something like sports betting risk management things. Maybe someday we will have. Who knows.

Thanks liam. You are definitely right. And the thing that I should do is to focus on the job, learn from the job and keep working hard. Nobody can predict the future of the industry. And even nobody can predict their future. Even if they have some plans, it can still change with their experiences. And thanks for noticing and risk and uncertainty. Anyway, I really like what you said and I really appreciate it.

QuoteOriginally posted by: figoliuxiMaybe because I am lacking of experiencesit's your grammar, dude

i heard that cantor is aggresively hiring sports quants in vegas..

QuoteOriginally posted by: LSEstati heard that cantor is aggresively hiring sports quants in vegas..http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-0 ... ports.html