March 19th, 2009, 10:57 am
Hi allI will do a summer internship in trading (rotation:eq derivs and rates) in London this summer and would like to prepare as best as possible because in the current market it will be very difficult to get a full-time offer afterwards. I am doing a quantitative finance masters right now but it seems to me a lot of the stuff i do in the courses like stoch. calc. is either too theoretical for being directly applicable in the internship or not used in banks like specific models. Therefore:1. I am good in VBA, should I also learn the basics of C++ before?2. What in terms of numerics/computation is most beneficial: General numerical methods or specific things like MC, FE, FD where I am doing courses about?3. Are there good books about trading/hedging in both Eq and FI that are more practical but also quantitative, not like Hulll: I have heard a lot about Taleb's dynamic hedging and Natenberg's book. Are they really helpful? Is there something practical but mathematical about fixed income as well.4. What other skills/knowledge are crucial?Thanks a lot for your input!