Can anyone please point to the source where I can get started with building projects?

[mathtoquant]

The following topics are what I'm familiar with (and I know that are relevant to quant finance).



Optimization

Probability theory

Numerical PDE (or PDE)

Machine Learning



I'm mathematically mature (I studied pure math), but I have almost no knowledge about theoretical Statistics. I only know how to do linear regression using R and analyze data, and just basic things in statistics.



I'm a student at UChicago. I'm thinking of contacting professors working at business school, but I'm not sure what skillset I should look for. I'm a masters student, and am interested in quant research role. I'm looking to directly build any skillset required for quant researcher role. Ideally I hope to build two or three projects before graduation so I can get an interview.

I have roughly 9 months to apply for a full time job (December graduate). I'm willing to pay if I can get some resource. I'm thinking of contacting alumni but I would need any direct support. Could anyone point me where I can start looking for?

 

[Qui-Gon]

Look up Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, etc. — find an empirical paper or two that stand out to you and try to (1) replicate their results assuming you have access to the data (not sure if you have access to WRDS in your program) and (2) extend the results of the paper in some way. Most important is that you choose topics YOU are interested in. Interviewers will see right through you having done projects you simply got from others.

A quote one of my past professors has repeated often which I find useful:

“‘I checked it very thoroughly’, said the computer, ‘and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question is.”

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Look up Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, etc. — find an empirical paper or two that stand out to you and try to (1) replicate their results assuming you have access to the data (not sure if you have access to WRDS in your program) and (2) extend the results of the paper in some way.

Nice.

 

[mathtoquant]

Look up Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, etc. — find an empirical paper or two that stand out to you and try to (1) replicate their results assuming you have access to the data (not sure if you have access to WRDS in your program) and (2) extend the results of the paper in some way. Most important is that you choose topics YOU are interested in. Interviewers will see right through you having done projects you simply got from others.

A quote one of my past professors has repeated often which I find useful:

“‘I checked it very thoroughly’, said the computer, ‘and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question is.”

Thank you so much for your advice! I think those websites and papers are what I should aim for. Do you know of any route/website that I can learn basic finance in general? (online lectures, etc).

 

[Qui-Gon]

I would start here:

Master reading list for Quants, MFE (Financial Engineering) students

QuantNet International Guide to Financial Engineering Programs DOWNLOAD GUIDE FREE QUANT CAREER GUIDES What do quant do ? A guide by Mark Joshi. (see attachment) Paul & Dominic's Guide to Quant Careers (see attachment) Paul & Dominic's Guide to Getting a Quant Job (see attachment) Career in...

quantnet.com

Financial Engineering Explained

Financial Engineering Explained is a series of concise, practical guides to modern finance, focusing on key, technical areas of risk management and asset ...

www.springer.com

But, there is such a thing as reading too much before starting a project. Better to start sooner than later and if along the way you feel lacking in a given area you can always read more then.

 

[QuantCoach]

I'm a student at UChicago. I'm a masters student, and am interested in quant research role. I'm looking to directly build any skillset required for quant researcher role. Ideally I hope to build two or three projects before graduation so I can get an interview.

The previous suggestions are great for starting a project. However, if your primary motivation for doing these projects is to land the quant research interview, I think quite a few students overestimate how much these projects really help your profile (as they underestimate how competitive the quant research space really is). Projects are great for self-interest but they only provide a significant enough edge to help land QR jobs if goes beyond just something you did to build your skillset. For example, what several people of my undergrad cohort did was reach out to reputable tenured professors to work on a novel project or significant extension of another paper and publish it - the edge this provides depends on the interest your interviewer has on the subject + the reputation of the journal you published in. It's not a numbers game where you "build two or three projects" but rather can you take one project and polish it to a publishable standard. Another example of a 'significant' enough project is if you built a model that you're comfortable investing your own money into - several of my QR friends were interested in sports betting, they read several papers about it, incorporated some of their own ideas, built the models, and put some capital into it.