astro_phd said:
-- Do I have the skills to transition to finance? Is high-level C a must?
You absolutely must know basic C++. If you have skills in other areas you don't need to be a C++ expert, but you absolutely must be willing to program in C++ if necessary.
Fortunately, knowing enough C++ so that you can do basic programming is something you can pick up with about a month of self-study. You don't need to be an expert, but you do need to show willingness to program in it. Also if you know python classes well, then transferring that knowledge to C++ shouldn't be too hard.
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)?
The stereotypical image of a quant is a job that died about five years ago.
There are lots of different jobs. Having said that the market is moving toward more data-driven stuff than inventing algorithms (since it's now very, very, very painful to invent a new algorithm). For every one Ph.D. that's inventing an algorithm, there are now probably five or six that are throwing data at it and seeing how it reacts to different situations.
Part of this is regulatory. The days in which someone could come up with a new derivatives algorithm and toss it into production in an hour are gone. The government will not let you do this. Before you run a new algorithm now, you need weeks or months of testing. Where you toss tons of data against the algorithm and see how it reacts. So you have lots of people writing test harnesses in Numpy, gathering statistics, etc. etc.
Now algo trading is different, since you can come up with a new algorithm and toss it into production with about a week of review. But that involves lots of statistics, data mining, data analysis...
But that's good for you... :-) :-)
A finance job that pays less than quant salary would be okay with me, if they exist for people like me.
You need to change your thinking a bit on money. If you are willing to work for nothing, there are plenty of people that are willing to have you work for nothing and take all of the cash that your stuff generates. If you demand nothing, you get nothing.
You have skills, you have value. This isn't academia where you have to beg and plead for a position. When people look at you, they see dollar signs, and you need to be willing to get dollar signs. One nice thing about Wall Street is that people tend to be less hypocritical. Your company makes a ton of money. The senior executives take most of it. You get bread crumbs. But it's amazing how big the bread crumbs are.
One reason this matters it that salaries are going down. The days of huge payouts are over. The pay is still good, but this ain't academia, so if they go down too much, it's time to forget finance and do something else.
Also, there is no stability. The markets could change quickly and you could be out of a job for no reason that has anything to do with you. One reason for demanding $$$$ is so that you have something if things fall apart.
As a new person, you aren't going to get more than the standard market rate. However, your goal would be to avoid getting cheated into accepting less than the standard market rate. glassdoor.com and a good HH would give you the standard market rates. Also, the HH is paid a percentage of your first year pay, so if you are willing to settle for less money, your HH won't let you because it reduces his commission.
I have a ulterior motive in all of this. If your salary goes down, then my salary goes down. If there are a ton of people willing to do my work, for much less than they are paying me, then my boss is going to stare at me with shark eyes...
Something else is that NYC is a very expensive city and you will be hit with a 45% marginal tax rate and $2K-$3K rents.
Is applying for NYC jobs from overseas pretty standard?
If you aren't in the US/Canada then it's more difficult for interviews. If you are physically outside of the US, then you should consider London, Singapore, or Hong Kong. It's easier for people in some countries to work in London than in the US. If you are physically in the United States but are a student, then it's not going to be much of a problem since visa sponsorship is pretty standard.
There are lots of Canadians working in Wall Street since getting a work visa if you are Canadian is basically a rubber stamp.
Or are skype interviews and visa applications a total pipe dream?
The standard practice is that the first interview is telephone, and the later interviews are face to face. One thing that I did when I was job hunting was to buy a ticket to NYC and stay in a hostel for two months. This made things easy, because we could have a phone interview in the morning and if they liked me I could show up in the office that afternoon.
