Career Advice for Physics Grad with Programming Skills

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Ok so as of now I'm in third year undergrad and on target to get a First Class Honours in Theoretical Physics (Bsc) with a grade average of ~82%. My 2nd semester final year project will have an emphasis on programming (as to what language I'm not entirely sure yet), I have thus far been exposed to 2 courses worth of Java programming as well as one on basic physics simulations in VB. The point is that I should have a reasonable amount of exposure to programming by the time I graduate.

I'm currently waiting to hear back from UCL, Cambridge and Imperial as to whether I have been accepted onto their Msc courses in Astrophysics, Physics (with emphasis on theoretical modules), Theoretical Physics respectively. I hope to further enhance my knowledge of some programming language in whichever course in the Msc project.

I have been tempted by quantitative analysis and have started reading about Capital Markets for Quantitative professionals by Alex Kuznetsoz. So far I'm very interested in what I'm reading, however, I know the competition to get a quant position is ridiculous (not sure how the UK compares to the US) and that the rigorous interview process can really be quite intense so I'm not banking on landing a job as a quant, I'm also not prepared to spend 3-4 years doing a PhD in Physics just to give me a better "chance". What are my alternate career choices outside of Physics which have fairly good prospects?

I'm very interested in programming, I want to learn more about capital markets and I have not dismissed sectors such as insurance for instance, I just wouldn't know what sort of jobs would be a good fit for a Physics grad with my background, any advice will be much appreciated.
 
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