theoretical quants

KackToodles · February 27th, 2010, 2:09 am

is there much demand for pencil and paper theoretical quants who do not do their own programming? i mean, they just come up with ideas and suggest ways for the developers to test those ideas?

ppauper · February 27th, 2010, 9:55 am

not wanting to be a computer monkey ?

twofish · February 27th, 2010, 4:56 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: KackToodlesis there much demand for pencil and paper theoretical quants who do not do their own programming? i mean, they just come up with ideas and suggest ways for the developers to test those ideas? No.

MatthewM · February 27th, 2010, 5:02 pm

Ideas are a dime a dozen. Quant work is about details and implementation.

quantmeh · February 27th, 2010, 6:47 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: KackToodles<br i mean, they just come up with ideas and suggest ways for the developers to test those ideas? i hate those f%$kheads who do it. anybody can throw in ideas. unless you can implement your idea, you're worthless. it doesn't mean you implement it in production code, but you have to demonstrate that your idea works. you can't do it with pen and pencil. it's b/s

ArthurDent · February 27th, 2010, 7:38 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: KackToodlesis there much demand for pencil and paper theoretical quants who do not do their own programming? i mean, they just come up with ideas and suggest ways for the developers to test those ideas? There is some demand. They are called professors, and the developers are called "phd students".

ArthurDent · February 27th, 2010, 7:42 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: jawabeancan't do it with pen and pencil. it's b/sblack-scholes can be derived with paper and pencil. bit tough with pen and pencil.

plus · February 27th, 2010, 8:12 pm

They should be called Theoretical Analysts not Quantitative Analysts. There is not much demand.

deepvalue · February 27th, 2010, 9:11 pm

although there is not much demand, the position of in-house theoretician is great if you can get it.Grinold and Kahn had that position at BGI before BGI got aquired and blackrock cleaned house. And the most famous in-house theoretician was black at goldman.

ppauper · February 28th, 2010, 11:16 am

QuoteOriginally posted by: ArthurDentQuoteOriginally posted by: KackToodlesis there much demand for pencil and paper theoretical quants who do not do their own programming? i mean, they just come up with ideas and suggest ways for the developers to test those ideas? There is some demand. They are called professorsand "managers" or "directors"

KackToodles · March 1st, 2010, 1:45 am

QuoteOriginally posted by: ppauperQuoteOriginally posted by: ArthurDentQuoteOriginally posted by: KackToodlesis there much demand for pencil and paper theoretical quants who do not do their own programming? i mean, they just come up with ideas and suggest ways for the developers to test those ideas? There is some demand. They are called professorsand "managers" or "directors" but the managers and directors don't do any theory. a theoretician has to create some non-trivial theories.

quantmeh · March 1st, 2010, 2:27 am

QuoteOriginally posted by: KackToodlesa theoretician has to create some non-trivial theories. how many job openings you saw which require creation of non-trivial theories? there are none