Unique Background Advice

[cleverdonk]

Hello, I am interested in quant finance (specifically quant trading) but I have a non-traditional background and was looking for some advice regarding next-steps. I have an undergrad degree in philosophy with a minor in economics (overall gpa ~3.1) from a top 50 university in the US. After college I played poker professionally for 2.5 years and amassed more than 100k in profit. Unfortunately, this was all in cash games (meaning it is untracked publicly) so there is only my word to take for it. I am confident if someone familiar with poker spoke to me about it in detail they would realize I am a top-level player. I am looking to get into finance, and a buddy of mine that works at a HF pointed me towards QT because of my background in poker.

Currently I am using tradinginterview.com to study mental math and probability/statistics questions. I am also studying Option Volatility and Pricing by Natenberg. I have also completed an intro to python course on codecademy.

I have also messaged several recruiters on linked-in expressing my interest to different firms. Unfortunately, no one has responded to me.

Feel free to be brutally honest, I have thick skin.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

We have plenty of poker players around here. In fact, many of us were members on 2plus2 back in the days.
If you have an analytical mindset, there is no question that you can be successful in this line of work.
Getting in the door would be the tricky part which is why many people doing these MFE programs.
With your background, you may need to catch a break by knowing someone who knows someone. Recruiters are not going to waste their time when there are plenty of people graduate degrees looking to break in.
Without going back to school, I can only think of getting in a quant dev position first and plan accordingly.
Python from Codecademy is not going to impress. You need to take some heavy C++ courses and kill it.
Here is for your motivation How Quantnet's C++ certificates got me a job on Wall Street

 

[MikeLawrence]

Two Sigma might have the largest known poker culture, if you want to try and focus efforts there. It's also very difficult to get into, so best of luck.

I've seen Taleb's Dynamic hedging mentioned with Natenberg for trading texts, if you want another.

I'm not sure if the jump from quant dev to trader is very likely, but dev is almost certainly the easiest job to get at these firms from your current position. Unless a recruiter takes a flyer and they put you into a trading program. That's been done with people of your profile, it's just got a lot of luck involved.

 

[cleverdonk]

Two Sigma might have the largest known poker culture, if you want to try and focus efforts there. It's also very difficult to get into, so best of luck.

I've seen Taleb's Dynamic hedging mentioned with Natenberg for trading texts, if you want another.

I'm not sure if the jump from quant dev to trader is very likely, but dev is almost certainly the easiest job to get at these firms from your current position. Unless a recruiter takes a flyer and they put you into a trading program. That's been done with people of your profile, it's just got a lot of luck involved.

Thanks for the reply Mike! I've read Taleb's Black Swan and enjoyed it, so checking out his other book you mentioned sounds like fun.

I am wondering, why do you believe getting a quant dev job would be easier than getting a quant trader job? I was under the impression quant trading required less knowledge about the underlying theory than developer positions, which would make it easier for a beginner to get into. Is it because they are typically hired right out of college/are younger?