- #1
astro_phd
- 2
- 0
I'm finishing my astrophysics PhD and looking for other career options. I do observational astrophysics, almost entirely based on Python coding on very large data sets. Lots of Numpy+SciPy, monte-carlo, modelling data doing non-linear fitting using maximum likelihood on computer clusters, stuff like that. I would say my speciality is being able to write code quickly to get something out of a large amount of data. However, I also work on developing large Python reduction pipelines in collaboration with others (object-oriented), where we have to automate careful statistics and errors of millions of pixels in real time.
I'm a little rare in the sense that all my research has been Python/Perl/R, and very little C/Fortran. I can do basic stuff in C, but my high-level experience is all Python.
I have three questions:
-- Do I have the skills to transition to finance? Is high-level C a must?
-- Are there finance jobs a PhD can get that are more data-oriented than a pure algorithm-inventing quant (my stereotypical image of a quant)? I like analyzing data and I like debugging code. Money is good, but I'm mostly leaving academia for some stability in life. A finance job that pays less than quant salary would be okay with me, if they exist for people like me.
-- Is applying for NYC jobs from overseas pretty standard? Or are skype interviews and visa applications a total pipe dream?
I'm a little rare in the sense that all my research has been Python/Perl/R, and very little C/Fortran. I can do basic stuff in C, but my high-level experience is all Python.
I have three questions:
-- Do I have the skills to transition to finance? Is high-level C a must?
-- Are there finance jobs a PhD can get that are more data-oriented than a pure algorithm-inventing quant (my stereotypical image of a quant)? I like analyzing data and I like debugging code. Money is good, but I'm mostly leaving academia for some stability in life. A finance job that pays less than quant salary would be okay with me, if they exist for people like me.
-- Is applying for NYC jobs from overseas pretty standard? Or are skype interviews and visa applications a total pipe dream?