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(I'm a quant at a trading firm) On the quant side, the somewhat unfortunate answer is "get a STEM PhD". My firm is always looking to hire quants who are also good (Python / C++) developers, but you'll probably not get past the initial resume screen without a PhD or other serious research experience.

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In your experience, are quant firms bothered about whether the STEM PhD had anything to do with finance?

I'm considering trying to get into the field when I finish my Comp Sci PhD in a few months. I'm a little worried that my sole explicit financial qualification is that I really enjoyed a course on Black-Scholes towards the end of my undergraduate in Physics, although I probably would word that slightly differently on a CV.

Probably a preference for non-finance fields of study. Might be different at hedge funds doing longer-term trading, but at the short end, academic finance is very far from anything being done in practice.

Ah, that's great to know. Thanks for taking the time to reply!

that's a pretty low bar (know python and have a STEM phd)

Is this sarcasm? Getting a PhD takes many folks well into their 30's. It's not a "low bar" by any means.

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