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Imagine when the interviewer panel himself is a quant who probably went through the different levels of work to know the difference when someone should do the programming and when someone should do the modelling. I'll bring it back to the poster. Given your knowledge, which research topic are you more comfortable handling: 1. Devising a new algorithm to search a 1,000,000 row dataset at O(nlogn) time? 2. Calculate the distribution at time T of a point, which starts at 0, whose dynamics starts out as GBM mean m0 and sd sd0 but sd changes to sd(t), a function of t, whenever the point is at a > 0 or b < 0. Sd switches back to sd0 when point is at a > x > b? These are really the questions you'll have to be equiped to answer when they see you with PhD. |
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Anyway, leave that aside please, if you will. Tell me whether the DBS associate program is the right path to become a quant or not, if you are familiar with the typical pathway. I do not want to sit at a counter handling 100$ bill for customers, after going through that program. |
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Now, DBS is kinda reduced expectation honestly speaking, but good enough and I will be happy to work at their headquarter right here. While I am aware of behemoths like Goldman Sachs and Deutsche bank etc. I also believe the competition is infinitely more fierce, with superstar graduates from Cambridge or Stanford lining up for them. So...you get it. :) |
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As for the problems you posted, I have some relatively sketchy idea about how to go on with 1. But if you are asking what I would like to devote my time on, and more confident solving (given some time), I will prefer the problem on geometric Brownian motion. And related problems in stochastic calculus, Black Scholes model etc. Thanks for raising the issue in such a clear cut and precise manner. So given that 2 is my strength, does that make me more of a quant or more a developer? My Ph.D. is from the computer engineering department though, so there is some contradiction. |
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Don't think you are getting it yet. It's not about you and what you think about yourself. There's no shortage of people who have interest or academics in Brownian motion or stochastic or Black Scholes (Black Scholes in 2016!?!?). These guys are applying to be quants by the hundreds all over the world. You are missing the crucial additional things that are needed to give your CV a fighting chance. I rest my case. You will see how competitive and the hard realities of applying to quant positions in banks once you actually start sending CVs. IT and systems related jobs are your best bet. All the best. |
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Yup, he missed out on the internships. But let's see whether there's other components he can rely on - his network, specialized skill set or publications. |
My 2c on this.
By and large, I agree with what the 2 posters above are saying. Personally my recommendation is for TS to try his luck at boutique algo trading asset management firms instead of wasting time with the banks. If you look at the current trends in the banking industry, by and large investment banking and trading related activities are scaling down world wide as margins are shrinking. This means lots of retrenchments and hiring freeze even for niche positions like quants. Supply way exceeds demand now, so it is very unfavorable for TS - making the situation worse. Wealth management is the growth driver for the foreseeable future and most of the hiring is taking place in this area. Unfortunately this is not a business that hires a lot of quants so definitely the total number of quant jobs in the market is shrinking. Boutique firms pay and prestige is not as good as bulge brackets, but the demand and supply imbalance is not that bad and maybe TS can gain some useful experience and go for the banks in the future when the macro conditions are better. |
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Basically, wealth management is to allocate capital to various funds, can be discretionary macro, long short equities OR quant funds. The TS is looking for work in one of these quant funds. So don't both with wealth management. Also, he mentioned about derivative pricing which is not a fund strategy. Derivative pricing is done by the banks. But I get what you mean by giving him alternative options. I agree with you that the industry is shrinking, more so in Singapore. I used to search quantiative analyst and quantiative developer jobs in Singapore and they're becoming less and less. |
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But come to think of it, are you aware of any bank in Sg that is actually expanding its quant team? I know for sure DBS is not hiring now, OCBC and UOB I am not sure if they even have quants. Haven't really heard any openings among the usual foreign IB... |
i am not a quant and not working in financial industry, but i've been looking into a mine into a quant kind of role since 2012, and eventually give up in 2014. this is what i feel about the quant market in singapore. btw my background is EE and i did both gpu and fpga stuff for large scale high performance computing and low latency, near realtime application, plus i self studied stochastic calculus, derivative pricing and those quant stuff. so i am fairly familier with the industry.
during my 2 years trying to break into quant finance, i notice a big difference of quant position in singapore and those in london or nyc. most sg quant role ask for execl, sometimes vba as well, while most quant position in london and nyc ask c++, with a few java. i think this clearly shows that the real quant role as TS meant is not in existence in local banks. there're a couple quant role locally i remember asking more advanced technical skills, almost all from algo trading firm like virtu, or kcg. i know a ntu physics phd whose thesis was on derivatives and liquidity modeling. she told me she did a master in financial engineering and could not find a job, so she continued with a phd, and still cannot find a quant job. eventually she joined an internet tech firm, and find some of the skills r still relevant and useful. i myself tried to switch from ee to quant for 2 years, and eventually gave up, and switch to data science, which has a lot of demand right now. i would suggest the TS while continue to.look for quant job, give data science a try. seriously it is much easier in terms of the math or statistics involved. i think quant finance is shrinking worldwide, may well give data analytics a shot |
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