Is MFE worth it if I am already working in the industry?

[Garrett Gomez]

Hi,


Would an MFE degree be worth it for me? I come from a business major who currently works in a high frequency trading firm (2.5 years) on the software infrastructure side. I would like to work on the modeling/research side.


Most people who take MFE's either lack work experience or want to switch careers/industries, and I want to remain in it. Not to humblebrag, but my current compensation is already much higher than the 'high' salaries in a lot of MFE degree's career placement statistics. Furthermore, most MFE's end up in investment banks' (back-office) modeling/quant desks or hedge funds rather than high frequency trading (though there are some).


By the time I finish my masters, I will most likely have around 4 years of experience. It might be possible to transition to the modeling/research section of my company without a Ph. D, but extremely difficult when/if I try to go for another company. Would a MFE be worth it (given the opportunity cost and high cost, isn't as quantitative as MS CS/Stats/Physics, while not as research intensive as a Ph. D)? If my work experience is great, would I be able to break in without a graduate degree?


Thanks you all for reading. As a side question, would working on the infrastructure side (marketmaking algorithm optimization and low latency networking) be just as good as strategy modeling/research?

 

[Yike Lu]

Not sure name-brand value of MFE will help you. Perhaps specific course work will. If I were you, I'd come up with a proposal specific to modeling/research and ask my current company.

You don't need a graduate degree, but you need to have a fairly high level of mastery of a broad skill set (programming, markets, statistics, finmath, optimization, risk) and demonstrable interest (as in you have conducted your own research).

As far as infrastructure being "just as good", depends on your definition of "good".

 

[Anupriya]

Garrett, I am not sure why are you even considering MFE? Since you are already working in a high frequency trading firm at the infrastructure side, you know the hardware networking part I assume? You can always start modeling and trading on your own. You must have heard of plenty of online tools now: if you know python you can play around at Quantopian, which is an online trading platform. Of you can connect to paper trading account of IB using IBPython.
What has been your major in education in grad school?
I am not sure if MFE is designed to cater to algorithmic trading or high frequency trading training.

Hi,


Would an MFE degree be worth it for me? I come from a business major who currently works in a high frequency trading firm (2.5 years) on the software infrastructure side. I would like to work on the modeling/research side.


Most people who take MFE's either lack work experience or want to switch careers/industries, and I want to remain in it. Not to humblebrag, but my current compensation is already much higher than the 'high' salaries in a lot of MFE degree's career placement statistics. Furthermore, most MFE's end up in investment banks' (back-office) modeling/quant desks or hedge funds rather than high frequency trading (though there are some).


By the time I finish my masters, I will most likely have around 4 years of experience. It might be possible to transition to the modeling/research section of my company without a Ph. D, but extremely difficult when/if I try to go for another company. Would a MFE be worth it (given the opportunity cost and high cost, isn't as quantitative as MS CS/Stats/Physics, while not as research intensive as a Ph. D)? If my work experience is great, would I be able to break in without a graduate degree?


Thanks you all for reading. As a side question, would working on the infrastructure side (marketmaking algorithm optimization and low latency networking) be just as good as strategy modeling/research?