I work for a smallish Co. that makes markets in Vanilla options - equity and fixed income. My career goal is to eventually work in exotics: either pricing FIs for a bank, or hedging insurance liabilities (exotics disguised as policies) on the vanilla market. In short I want to transition to what I'd call high-IQ quant work, and this type of work is found, from what I understand, mostly at the big houses and Cos.I'd like to hear from others who've made a similar transition, in particular those who have done so recently, i.e., in this employment market. My concern is that those hired into the exotics world tend to be either those experienced in exotics already (here I don't qualify), or fresh PhDs that they train in. My PhD-level skills in stochastics have now, one year plus past the PhD, are put to relatively little use. Is my pessimism justified?Thanks to all those who respond.