Hacker News Reader

Comment by pkkkzip | Hacker News Reader

You just aren't as special or interesting as you think to them. Think about this, there are many finance focused graduates with several years of experience in that industry (buy-side im presuming from your comment) and being able to code isn't as special as SWE think it is.

This is another case of software devs thinking they can crack finance/trading because they know how to code. The myopia comes from the difference in culture and how risk is treated from tech organizations to finance.

Exception is if you have an advanced math/physics degree that will be useful in the domain of quant shops but I wouldn't recommend someone taking that route just because they want to make money.

There are lot of finance/trading jobs. I wouldn't waste time pursuing that field. Very few end up parachuting with a mid six digit figure salary even inside that industry and these are people with many years of finance specific experience.

View on HN

I don't really think I'm terribly special. As I said in sibling comments, I have been trying to break into more of the software side, not the quant stuff. I don't think I need to be special in order to try to break in, as long as I set my expectations to "it's a long shot" mode.

I do think that I could learn any level of quant if I really wanted to, but I would rather focus on the software stuff.

I have about half of a PhD in theoretical computer science, but that's not usually the "math" that's useful in finance, outside of the software side.

> I have been trying to break into more of the software side, not the quant stuff

> I have about half of a PhD in theoretical computer science

There just aren't that many jobs in High Finance.

They can concentrate on hiring EECS/ECE/CS majors from MIT, Harvard, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UIUC, Columbia, and Princeton and call it a day.

But more critically, why would you even want to make that move? The RoI isn't that high if you aren't quant. You can make decently well working in most tech companies with a better WLB.

> The RoI isn't that high if you aren't quant.

The postings I see on Selby Jennings (and their equivalents) seem to show a considerably higher salary than the BigCo's that I've worked at. At least the salary bands that are listed.

That's honestly a big reason, but I also just find the world of ultra-low-latency software pretty interesting.

You'll also be expected to work 60-80 hour weeks.

You can earn the bottom end of those salary bands in West Coast Big Tech with much less hours worked (30-50).

> ultra-low-latency software pretty interesting

Then go into ML Infra. It's the same skillset and problem space (high performance computing), but better work hours and decent compensation.

I've tried; I've done what everyone has done and sent applications to OpenAI; they don't call me back. I don't really want to work for an AI startup.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com