Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi, I've been in the hedge fund industry for close to 5 years. Firstly, you don't just become a PM, PMs are generally made up of scholars and/or high performers who would have had many years to decades of experience either trading or doing IB. Secondly, if you are non ivy league graduate, your chances to even become a trading assistant for PMs in a hedge fund is slimmer than striking the lottery. For example a fellow in my office who's a trading assistant graduated from imperial college London. A first round mental math question such as what is 119^4/1.4 is considered simple. The people who are in that league are not there by chance, or luck.

Even someone with a local cert with honors backed with CFA level 3 and FRM may not make the cut. PM don't just bet on the market, they make sure their bet always wins. Especially in hedge funds where a market downturn is not an excuse to lose money. If you are close to the above credentials, congratulations you might have a glimmer of hope. If you aren't, then look on the bright side, you still can have a decent career in other functions within the finance industry.