Advice to a High School Student

[Jesse Maltese]

Hi I'm Jesse!

Over the past few months I have become increasingly interested in Quantitative Finance because it combines challenging problems with a much higher compensation than Academia (I'm a little greedy; I hope that's socially acceptable here). If I study independently with a professor, what should I learn? How should I obtain internships in Freshman and Sophomore year of college?

Background: Currently I have an introductory background in more theoretical math (Real Analysis, Abstract Algebra, Multi variable, ODE's) but lack the probability and programming skills necessary to succeed (only AP cs and AP stats). I also have no internship experience in any financial domain.

It seems like I need more math, probability, programming in Java(or equiv) R and MATLAB and stochastic calculus. How do I gain these skills or whatever else I should learn? Any other life advice would be awesome.

Thank you!

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Way too early.

 

[Varun Dubey]

What if you want to open a company or become a doctor by the time you reach college?
@Daniel Duffy is absolutely right in saying that it's too early for you.

 

[euroazn]

Currently I have a decently deep background in more theoretical math

My life advice is to know your limits and stay humble.

For internships just do some software development for now.

 

[Parallax]

Keep your options open. Take a lot of math and programming classes, but don't get so set on one particular career path. There is a ton of stuff that you can do with that base knowledg, and you'll figure it out eventually. Most people switch careers at some point in their life (or wish they did), so stay flexible. I regret being so focused on finance that I didn't consider other options. I do enjoy what I do, but there are other career paths that I think I would have possibly enjoyed more. Money is nice, but 40-60 hours a week is a huge chunk of your life.

 

[Jesse Maltese]

My life advice is to know your limits and stay humble.

Sorry, I realize I phrased that pompously. I was trying to give you guys an idea of my starting point and meant to say that my skills in theoretical math were relatively stronger to my skills in programming and stats not that they were strong in general. I altered my original post to reflect that.

What if you want to open a company or become a doctor by the time you reach college?

I by no means know what I'll want to do in four years. However, in that past I've found that setting a goal that's interesting helps me stay motivated. If I do not end up in finance gaining the math and programming skills will still help me.

 

[Ken Abbott]

I'm a little greedy; I hope that's socially acceptable here).

This is a very slippery slope. The Street is strewn with the careers of people who went into finance for the money. They usually end up stuck in middle management and miserable. Better try an internship and see if you really like it.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Speaking of programming, this language looks interesting and I reckon (think?) that it is suitable for novices. It looks nice and compact and you could write some of your maths stuff in it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(programming_language)

 

[pingu]

Speaking of programming, this language looks interesting and I reckon (think?) that it is suitable for novices. It looks nice and compact and you could write some of your maths stuff in it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(programming_language)

maybe... or maybe not http://yager.io/programming/go.html

 

[Daniel Duffy]

maybe... or maybe not http://yager.io/programming/go.html

It is probably not perfect. But it looks like a nice lightweight language. Just to get used to syntax and then move on to 'bigger' languages.

Rust looks good but I have not tried it. Haskel might be a bridge too far for high school level.

 

[euroazn]

It is probably not perfect. But it looks like a nice lightweight language. Just to get used to syntax and then move on to 'bigger' languages.

Rust looks good but I have not tried it. Haskel might be a bridge too far for high school level.

Or he can learn a useful language like C++ like the rest of us did

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Or he can learn a useful language like C++ like the rest of us did

I was going to say that but then someone would come down on me like a ton of bricks :D

To misquote James Joyce: "I'm told it's a grand language by them that knows."

 

[pingu]

It is probably not perfect. But it looks like a nice lightweight language. Just to get used to syntax and then move on to 'bigger' languages.

Rust looks good but I have not tried it. Haskel might be a bridge too far for high school level.

screw all that and learn Python. Then you can move to bigger things if you need them

 

[pingu]

Or he can learn a useful language like C++ like the rest of us did

and be wholly unproductive and hate programming.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

and be wholly unproductive and hate programming.

One swallow makes a summer, not.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

screw all that and learn Python. Then you can move to bigger things if you need them

Could do. Different strokes for different folks.
Don't be so narrow-minded. With programming languages it is good to get exposure to different paradigms:

Haskell .. the daddy of functional programming
Rust ... for concurrent and network programming

AFAIK Python is not that league.

 

[euroazn]

Could do. Different strokes for different folks.
Don't be so narrow-minded. With programming languages it is good to get exposure to different paradigms:

Haskell .. the daddy of functional programming
Rust ... for concurrent and network programming

AFAIK Python is not that league.

Python... the daddy of AQR's programming team because they are really really really proud of their library

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Python... the daddy of AQR's programming team because they are really really really proud of their library

found a nice discussion
http://www.dataart.com/downloads/The-Scripture-of-Python.pdf