If you majored in something quantitative there is just no need to take CS courses in a traditional college format. Online courses are on the same level or better if you can study by yourself and know enough math.
No idea about parent's background but in my experience those jobs are almost impossible to get if you are not already "inside". HFT is probably the most competitive part of finance for software engineers and the market is not expanding anymore. Same goes for other kinds of quantitative trading, but they generally pay less and are less competitive nowadays.
I really don't get why you consider 30 old or even near that. In my opinion it is a good time to do some self education, maybe change careers because many people don't realize what they really want until 30 or so. "Industry expert" on the other hand sounds plain boring.
300k for 40 hours a week in quant finance after 5 years in Boston? You are very lucky indeed. Most people don't make this much after 5 years in New York and usually work much more.
I'd be the first to tell you I'm very lucky, on a number of levels -- getting a position in the first place, stumbling into a firm with a healthy attitude towards work volume, etc. I mainly wanted to get a data point out there for others.
To answer some of the other downthread questions:
- Educational background: Ivy League, comp sci major and math minor. I wasn't the smartest person in any of my classes, but I got my work done well and didn't blow it off.
- I didn't have any connections that helped me get in, but had been pretty interested in the markets for a long time.
- As for chances of getting in, I'd say that it's definitely still possible but harder than it was. Most of the quant finance firms draw from the same pool of seniors graduating from highly selective colleges, and mostly just the good programmers from that group. Finance is also pretty cyclical in its hiring -- most firms were probably hiring record numbers of people right before the financial crisis.
I still have a copy of the cover letter I sent to apply for a job in structured credit products at Bear Stearns.
Disagree. If you have an easy recipe feel free to share :). You have to be a front office VP to be guaranteed this kind of money. Aleynikov made 400k as a senior VP working on HFT infrastructure at Goldman.
2) Steady promotions (you are good technically, work well with people, and pick good projects, and -- hardest of all -- your management chain doesn't suck) for a few years, until you hit L65 (Principal level)
3) Stock awards over the next 5 years take care of the rest
Microsoft? Sure you can make that, but you have to get to a good group, or you have to have psychopathic personality. Have fun competing with your peers for "visibility"
Oh yes. They lump levels together in "bands" and you're basically competing with your peers for slots. The ranking has forced buckets, so someone always gets screwed. It's about as fucked up as you're thinking right now.
Seriously, there are groups who actually hire people to fall into the seven percent "knucklehead" bucket, so that none of the (presumably) good employees need to be fired.
This comment makes it hard to believe you. Google has not been known to pay half a million dollars to regular people. And no one in their right mind would call that salary low, except maybe a spoiled Wall St banker.
