Some General Questions About Career in Desk Quant

[Tenghui Lee]

Right now I'm a technology consultant and planning to become a desk quant (not risk quant etc, but the quant directly helps with trading business)in a bank(sell-side). I really appreciate your advice on my following questions:

1. What types of work does desk quant do in a bank? I heard desk quant will do pricing, data analysis etc, is that right?
2. I heard desk quant will do some data analysis work. In order to get ready to become a desk quant, are there any online courses in data analysis you recommend? It would be great if the online course has some projects to work on.
3. If I cannot get a desk quant offer, are there any other similar positions (may be model validation) so that I can gain some relevant experience and become a desk quant in the future?
4. If I become a desk quant, is it a good opportunity to get exposure to trading business?