c++ for a quant

[Robert chin]

Hi Quantnet,

I am a little unsure if this was the correct section of the forum to start this thread, so please redirect if incorrectly placed.

Well i am a 3rd yr Phd student in physics at a top university in England. Where my research is heavily based in theory, with some numerics. I want to become a research quant, However my numerical background though ok is nowhere near what i could say was expert level or even advanced, i can get by. Along with that caveat is the fact I program in the fortan language, but i have read that the preferred langauge is c++.

So my question to the forum is

can i still get a PhD graduate job as a quant, even with the outlined problems of no real c++ experience?

Thankyou for any help and advice.

Robert

 

[Stefan Zota]

Of course you can. Not all jobs require C++. If we are talking about "research quant" or pure modeling, then Mathlab/SAS/R can be just as useful.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

It is common belief that [60,70]% of a quant's work is involved in programming. And C++ is seen as a/the de facto standard in this field. Even if you don't use it, it is seen as a useful skill to have,

Pencil-and-paper quant work is not too common?? Even the quant gurus do a lot of hands-on as well.

can i still get a PhD graduate job as a quant, even with the outlined problems of no real c++ experience?
I think it is possible, but difficult. C++ is still the magic word. I think you should do more numerics. And C++ is good for numerical work.