So as you can see, I am new to the world of quants. In fact, I did not ever consider this field to work in because I have always been fascinated by animation and the products it leads to. I do like reading my weekly subscription of the Economist and that is the closest I would have ever been to this side of the world. I have been happily working in the visual effects industry as a R&D developer for about 2 years now. Over that period I realized that the best projects that I worked on had 2 major components : they needed to be very fast and they were all math oriented. And just last week, I found the world of quant devs, with job posts requiring good background in C++ (which is what I work on), some scripting and math (I am good with linear algebra, PDE's/numerical methods and to an extent, vector calculus). Over the next couple of months, I will be studying some topics related to financial engineering from Coursera.org and from a reading list I found at quantstart.com. I am thinking of switching jobs in some time and it seems that the role of a quant dev would be challenging in the areas that I want my work to be. However, this is just an informed guess from reading the job boards and if someone knowledgeable can help me out here, it would be even more clear.1. What is the day to day life of a quant dev like? What are the different fields one can work on? 2. What is the pace of work/ work environment? Do these guys have a good work/life balance? I ask question 2 because I see all these job postings for $150k + bonuses and frankly, from what I know, that is not something a guy with a masters in CS from a top university gets within 4-5 years of working in my industry. So a quant dev either gets over-worked(which is not my cup of tea), or maybe this industry has a lot of money flowing around. Any other tips or suggestions would be really appreciated. Thanks

don't get too carried away by the $150k figure, those jobs are mainly in NYC (and maybe the bay area? i dont know) and over there, it's really not that much. it's more like a middle class wage tbh. the hours can be long, but alot of quants are expected to bring top notch tech skills as well as be really good in finance+math. so for that $150k you're offering essentially 2 orthogonal skillsets to your employer.furthermore, you don't necessarily need an MS to make that kind of money. one of my ex-colleagues didn't even go to college (undergrad) and was pulling in about 130k plus benefits, (however - not in quant dev but working as a developer nevertheless in risk)and oh, yes it can very much be done with just 4-5 years experience, maybe even less, if you're really good at what you do or you get lucky. i don't know if it's really common or not, tho.now maybe the real quanty guys at the best places get massive bonuses, pushing their total comp into the 250k+ range...others here would be in a better position to speak to that, however

Hi nfsfan,Thanks for looking at the site! You might find this particular article of interest if you want to know what life is like as a quant dev: http://www.quantstart.com/articles/My-E ... edge-FundI had a good work/life balance when I was a quant dev. 8:30-6 were our approximate hours. Sometimes 9-5, sometimes later. We were a small firm so we were all wearing many hats. I really enjoyed it.It is possible to earn such salaries in quant development, as you suggested. You can become a contractor (particularly C++/C#/Java) and earn £500-600 (or more) a day if you find the right firm, although you will need to demonstrate excellent skills in that regard. I'm talking about London, but I'm sure things are similar in NYC. It certainly wouldn't hurt to run through the Coursera courses (try both the FE and Risk course as well as the one on Computational Investing).The market itself is not great at the moment, though. Make sure you're out networking and trying multiple headhunters if you're actively searching. It can take some time!

Thanks guys. That was quite helpful. @QuantStart : Your website is a very good resource for anyone who wants to step into this world. Kudos man!

QuoteOriginally posted by: nfsfanThanks guys. That was quite helpful. @QuantStart : Your website is very very good resource for anyone who wants to step into this world. Kudos man!Cheers!

QuoteOriginally posted by: quantstartThe market itself is not great at the moment, though. Make sure you're out networking and trying multiple headhunters if you're actively searching. It can take some time!I'm curious why you say multiple head hunters? Shouldn't someone just do one headhunter at a time? Couldn't that lead to multiple submissions at the same place? Of course if they were 100% honest they would get your approval first but how can one know....Thanks

Because each HH is aware of only a limited number of openings.

QuoteOriginally posted by: MokonQuoteOriginally posted by: quantstartThe market itself is not great at the moment, though. Make sure you're out networking and trying multiple headhunters if you're actively searching. It can take some time!I'm curious why you say multiple head hunters? Shouldn't someone just do one headhunter at a time? Couldn't that lead to multiple submissions at the same place? Of course if they were 100% honest they would get your approval first but how can one know....Thanksas ymous said, a given HH might not know of every single available opportunity. best is to ask the HH where he's submitting your resume to, and if another HH has already done so, let him know

QuoteOriginally posted by: quantstartHi nfsfan,Thanks for looking at the site! You might find this particular article of interest if you want to know what life is like as a quant dev: http://www.quantstart.com/articles/My-E ... edge-FundI had a good work/life balance when I was a quant dev. 8:30-6 were our approximate hours. Sometimes 9-5, sometimes later. We were a small firm so we were all wearing many hats. I really enjoyed it.It is possible to earn such salaries in quant development, as you suggested. You can become a contractor (particularly C++/C#/Java) and earn £500-600 (or more) a day if you find the right firm, although you will need to demonstrate excellent skills in that regard. I'm talking about London, but I'm sure things are similar in NYC. It certainly wouldn't hurt to run through the Coursera courses (try both the FE and Risk course as well as the one on Computational Investing).The market itself is not great at the moment, though. Make sure you're out networking and trying multiple headhunters if you're actively searching. It can take some time!Why did you quit quant development?

QuoteOriginally posted by: barnyQuoteOriginally posted by: quantstartHi nfsfan,Thanks for looking at the site! You might find this particular article of interest if you want to know what life is like as a quant dev: http://www.quantstart.com/articles/My-E ... edge-FundI had a good work/life balance when I was a quant dev. 8:30-6 were our approximate hours. Sometimes 9-5, sometimes later. We were a small firm so we were all wearing many hats. I really enjoyed it.It is possible to earn such salaries in quant development, as you suggested. You can become a contractor (particularly C++/C#/Java) and earn £500-600 (or more) a day if you find the right firm, although you will need to demonstrate excellent skills in that regard. I'm talking about London, but I'm sure things are similar in NYC. It certainly wouldn't hurt to run through the Coursera courses (try both the FE and Risk course as well as the one on Computational Investing).The market itself is not great at the moment, though. Make sure you're out networking and trying multiple headhunters if you're actively searching. It can take some time!Why did you quit quant development?The fund I was at didn't receive additional seed stage investment, so we had to close up shop. It's a shame because we were doing reasonably well. Since then I have been working on financial web/software application development, but still keep my hand very much in the quant game! If the right role came along, I'd definitely jump back in.How about yourself?

QuoteOriginally posted by: MokonQuoteOriginally posted by: quantstartThe market itself is not great at the moment, though. Make sure you're out networking and trying multiple headhunters if you're actively searching. It can take some time!I'm curious why you say multiple head hunters? Shouldn't someone just do one headhunter at a time? Couldn't that lead to multiple submissions at the same place? Of course if they were 100% honest they would get your approval first but how can one know....ThanksPurely because some will take ages to get back to you (if at all), while others are very much on the ball. There's little downside for you beyond being submitted twice, but it doesn't happen often.