PhD Physics to Quant

BenTheMan

Hmmm...your mailbox is at maximum entropy, it looks like :)

oreliphan

Hi twofish-quant, or Osmosis:

Could you tell me a bit about a working as a broker or trader at a hedge fund in forex or gold trading?

I've recently been looking into these career paths, as opposed to a quant.

shoehorn

There is, however, at least one important caveat to this. An increasingly large number of funds are focusing solely on algo/high-freq trading. If you have a PhD in physics - which is great, although not hugely uncommon these days - and if you have solid programming experience in Matlab/C++ - which is less common - and if you understand and can apply machine learning techniques to problems in finance - which is a rare skill for a physics PhD to have - you'll have very little difficulty in getting interviews by directly submitting your resume to this type of fund.

In fact, I'd be interested in talking to anyone who ticks all of these boxes, especially if they're in possession of a newly minted PhD.

gdwebb85

I have ~1-1.5 years left to finish my physics PhD. When should I start sending out resumes? Also, where does one go to find open positions?

twofish-quant

Start with the www.phds.org, www.efinancialcareers.com, www.wilmott.com, www.dice.com. One way of narrowing things down is to look for jobs in NYC. Also try to get in touch with alumni.

I'd start e-mailing them out now. I think I ended up sending a 100 or so resumes on my last job search. What you are looking for right now are people that are willing to call you back, and if you have a list of a dozen people that are willing to talk to you, that's a good start when you end up with your degree. Also, it gives you a year to tweak your resume.

twofish-quant

Yup. But then you end up in the Kafka world in which it's not clear where to set your resume. Algo hedge funds are notorious for their secrecy which means that they will hide where to set your resume to, and in a lot of situations they will try to hide their existence (i.e. they won't even have a web site).

One funny (in a dark humor sort of way) is that financial companies are often closed-lipped for legal reasons. Making an unauthorized public offerring can get you in serious trouble, and so if you publicly post that you need people to work on trading Elbonian yak options, you may get a nasty call from the SEC asking why you are publicizing the fact that you are trading yak options.

Despite what you see in the movies, people in finance live in total fear of the regulators, and getting a polite call from the SEC is something that people would rather not deal with.

Something that physics Ph.D.'s should do is to talk to anyone that even hints that they can use their resume.

xepma

I found this guide extremely useful (even though I haven't planned on switching):

http://www.markjoshi.com/downloads/advice.pdf

ann3

First let me say thank so much for this discussion. I read the whole thread and most of my questions were answered. I have some new ones though:

1. I will graduate next year with a PhD in Quantum Chemistry and MS in ECE. I know my way around numerical methods, simulations, etc. My C++ is rudimentary at best but I've done some insane things in FORTRAN (may have been "saner" if I used C... but legacy code... you know how it is). I am wondering if QC will be off-putting or unfamiliar in the quant circles? It's really basically a physics degree given by the chem dept - we do quantum theory, electronic structure, non-linear eq solvers, application is to physical chemistry and spectroscopy though. We even "live" in the physics building (instead of chem). What is the best way to explain this to the prospective employers?

2. I have a real hard time deciding what to do post graduation. My defense is rapidly approaching and so is the state of panic about the future. Having a repetitive or a boring job terrifies me more than anything. What kind of quant position type reward research-oriented people the most? Will I be given time to try out new things? even if some of these result in dead ends?

3. Not really a question but a reason. I'm a NYC native and having lived in all corners of US (HI including), I'd like to return to my favorite city - this is what gave me an idea to explore finance as a career. I considered it once as an option at CMU, I was there around the time when that major was coming together, but ultimately chose to stick with the College of Science. I like doing numerical models - so I assume I will like doing whatever quants do. And NY is a big + for me - all family and friends still there.

Finally, not to be too forward, but I visit NY every summer so if one of you guys (or gals) would let me buy them a cup of coffee and talk to me about their job/life/any interesting (non-secret) problems they've worked on, I would be infinitely grateful.

you can email me at melnichu at qtp ufl edu

Thanks!

Robert1986

I am beginning grad school for math in the fall. Finance has always interested me (I began college life as an econ/finance major until I took calc and liked it too much) and I am considering the possibility of perhaps getting into this field after I graduate. Now, I know lots of physics Ph.D.s go into quant stuff, but are there also math guys? And would I have a good chance of getting such a position? If this is something that I am planning to do, what kinds of classes should I take? Of course, the first year is going to be the basic foundation stuff, but I'll have to actually start choosing classes the second year.

twofish-quant

People will care about your math and computer skills. What particular type of Ph.D. you get is less important, although there is a bias toward computational and applied physics and math.

Most of the managers in quant circles are technical people, so you'd explain it the same way you would to another physics Ph.D. In order to get to the managers, you have to get through the gatekeepers, and the trick there is to put some keywords so that they match your resume with what they've been told to look for.

I've never been bored. I've been frustrated, angry, terrified, ecstatic, exhausted. Everything but bored. Boredom is not a problem. The problem is when things are exciting in the wrong ways.

This is more a function of the people that you work with.

That's very good. The issue here is that practically all finance jobs for physics Ph.D.'s in the United States are in the NYC-area. This is a big problem if you don't want to move to NYC. NYC has a lot of good things. However, you probably know already that you'll be paying a 45+% marginal tax rate.