Hi guys - I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice on the predicament I'm in. Here's the story:1) I'm about to graduate with a Maths Degree and will doing Part III (a bit like a MSc in Maths at Cambridge) next year.2) Last summer I worked at CSFB, and have recently had a call from them to see if I'd like to go back this summer.3) I've just had a call from Michael Page, and have received a lot of info about getting a job in quantitative finance.Now the problem is this. My current areas of expertise are Fluid Dynamics and QFT - which has little to do with financial mathematics. I want to be able to apply for junior quant type roles during Part III.So, do I spend this summer going over some Measure Theory, Stochastic Calculus, Optimisation, Numerical Analysis and go through Rennie & Baxter etc, so I build up relevant knowledge OR; do I accept the summer position at CSFB and gain more experience in the bank? I can't realistically do both because of time constraints.A big factor here, is the fact that the position is in Operations (structured note pricing) and so any experience I gain will not be directly related to the area of the bank I want to work in.Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated,Cheers, Anthony

I have a sense of deja-vu on this one..has someone not already started a thread on this one asking similar questions....I'm a bit puzzled why you cant do both. When you're not at CSFB you try and read as much as possible be it at home on the train whatever....As for what to read start reading Baxter and Rennie....I stay clear of the measure theory, stochastic calculus etc....I'd only take the job at CSFB if you know you gonig to get something worthwhile....there is only so much you can gain from being a spreadsheet monkey...A friend of mine once took a summer position at a certain bank..she was literally a gofer in the worst sense of the word....

Hi Anth0ny,I think that your summer job at CSFB is a real opportunity – possibilities like this don’t come around to everybody. You can read your books some other time. The job will be what you make of it, and if you give 110% you will get back a lot. You can gain perspective by talking to different people and keeping your eyes open. The bank can be thought of as a place with many tribes of people, all speaking different “languages”. As a quant, the more of these “languages” you know the better you will understand some real problems and be able to interact effectively. One of the facts of life being a quant is that you can get pigeonholed with day-to-day stuff and not be able to see the forest. Then when you are suddenly confronted with having to deal with people outside your area, if you don’t know their “language” you may have no idea what they are talking about or the rationale of why they are saying it.Sometimes banks have training sessions where they will rotate you around different desks or business units for a few days at a time. If you can get yourself on one of these, I think the experience would be incredibly valuable. For the record, I managed PhD quant groups on the Street for over 15 years. I wish now I had been given an opportunity like yours early on, although at the time I suppose I probably would have said no.----------

Thanks JanDash and player.player:To get to the kind of level I feel I need to be at, I don't think brushing over some notes in the evening will be enough. I'll be driving into Canary Wharf, and I don't get back home from work until about 8pm. So by the time I've got in and had some food - the day is pretty much over! I suppose I could concentrate on the studying over the weekend, but I'm still not sure about whether or not this will be enough time (adding to the fact that I'd like to have a little free time!).JanDash:I totally agree that the experience is extremely important. But this placement is in exactly the same division, working on the same type of stuff, as I did last summer (from mid June to early October). To use player's terminology, it's a bit of a "spreadsheet monkey" role. I did make a few contacts while I was there, from a few of the departments.I think my problem is that I don't know what level of financial mathematics knowledge I need before applying for these positions. Perhaps I'm overestimating how much work I would need to do?EDIT:I'd also like to improve my C++ skills, which is something I could do if I had the time. From what I understand, strong programming skills are a must (and my C/C++ skills aren't that amazing). I basically want to maximise my chances of getting a quant-position in a year-or-so's time.

my 2p...i thought the cam term starts october and i guess your internship will start around july and finish sept? so wouldnt that leave you a month to do all the studying that you plan on doing?so im not sure why it has to be one or the other... also i think the thing is if u go to csfb that will give you at least an opportunity to say to hr, look buddy, at the end of my internship, can u sort out a week for me where i can help out the structuring desk and see what they do? im really good at making photocopying... =)

making photocopying = making coffee and photocopying

QuoteI basically want to maximise my chances of getting a quant-position in a year-or-so's time.Then do a masters in finance instead of Part III.

QuoteOriginally posted by: Anth0ny.I think my problem is that I don't know what level of financial mathematics knowledge I need before applying for these positions. Perhaps I'm overestimating how much work I would need to do?EDIT:I'd also like to improve my C++ skills, which is something I could do if I had the time. From what I understand, strong programming skills are a must (and my C/C++ skills aren't that amazing). I basically want to maximise my chances of getting a quant-position in a year-or-so's time.Level of financial mathematics knowledge needed : If you go to work for a Mathematician turned Financial Quant , you'll need as much of the formal financial mathematics as there exists. If you go to work for a Physicist turned Financial Quant, you'll need less of the mathematical formality, more of applying direct mathematical calculations to market observations.As regards C++ knowledge - C++ seems to be the "buzz word" for quants. Its utility depends upon the need. If you're trying to model a financial instrument, understand how it works, what are its sensitivities .... you don't need C++. If you're "building a library", doing extensive number crunching, etc. , then C++ maybe the way to go, what you'll need to learn (although there are other languages that can do what C++ can do, with less of the overhead).