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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.
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I think you have too high opinion of the HF industry, and maybe by association yourself. Having been in the HF industry for many years, the PMs I know are smart but not genius. Sure, Ivy league but so what. I had a Yale PhD working under me and Ivy league really doesn't make any diff in the workplace when you can't beat the benchmark, as many managers do struggle to beat the benchmark. Forget about winning every bet - that certainly never happens. And it does sound like pretty dumb interview question to ask 119^4/1.4 - fact is I can't solve that and neither can the smartest folks I know. Trading profitably is about creativity, not being a calculator.