Hi Guys,I have just completed my Master's in Financial Engineering from an Ivy league school in US. My undergrad is from the best engineering institute in India (completed eight years ago). I need your advice/suggestions on how to go about my job search. I am interested in trading (algo trading) or structuring/quant modeling kind of jobs.I have seven years of IT experience (developing risk management and wealth mgmt applications) at one of the top four investment banks. I joined Master's for a career change as I know that I can do well in those areas. Right now, I am not able to land an interview. I think my past experience is acting against me.I want your opinion on:a) If you see a resume of financial engineer with seven years of IT experience (prior to MS), would you guys consider it for trading or structuring/quant modeling role?b) I have cleared the numerical tests of the two prop trading firms but they did not consider me for interview as I was not "young" enough for them. Do you think age matters in prop trading?c) How should I approach my job search?Thanks in advance for your comments.(I have posted this on other forums also but got only one reply till now. Hoping for a better response here.)

whats ur visa status?

I am on student visa. Will work in US on OPT. My program is eligible for 29 months of OPT. I also hold H1-B from from my previous employment which can be transfered to the new employer.Thanks

tough time to be on the market, bad boy!

I think your 7 years of IT experience is NOT in C++? It will be very difficult to get something without C++ experience.

Not sure what I can say, but I feel it has got to do more with market condition and nationality than your work experience. What about a PhD ?

Thanks for your comments guys. I did not apply for Phd this year and I think the applications dates are over now. I think I will try for another 1 or 2 months to get a job in finance before resigning myself to IT. Ananihdv,You are right. My IT experience is primarily in Java but with some exposure to C++. I will say I am not an expert in C++ but can manage to write good C++ code that does not involve advances topics such as multithreading.Do you guys think CFA Level 1 will make any difference to my resume? I am appearing for it this week.Thanks

As someone else has said, its not your past experience that's against you. This is just not a good time to graduate. Trading/Structuring is not in a hiring mode right now despite changing conditions in the market. If you're willing to be flexible and believe that you can get yourself into those areas in a couple of years, you can try financial software firms like Algorithmics. They will hire you a) because of your experience and b) you won't be very expensive for them. Some jobs in such shops are actually very interesting but you have to be very careful...you could easily get stuck in a model validation role and coming out of those into trading/structuring will be very hard. Look at research departments of sungard, algo, moodys etc. Not bad for a year or two.

QuoteOriginally posted by: HyperGeometric Look at research departments of sungard, algo, moodys etc. Not bad for a year or two.As far as moody's research group is concerned, if you are talking about the old KMV, then getting in is pretty hard. Mostly you would need PhD in Finance or Economics .