Reflecting on 30 Years: The Journey to Becoming a Quant
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- Опубликовано: 24 дек 2018
- I've just turned 30 years old and am reflecting back at my high and low points career-wise. From a disliking of high school to graduating from a top university with a Masters degree, it has been a fun ride thus far. The journey to quant finance has been a real struggle but rewarding the entire way. I look forward to another 30 years of learning, teaching, and reflecting.
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You really did come a long way. I think a lot of people could be inspired by your story.
30 is the new 20
Dimitiri, thank you so much for sharing your story, listening to how you struggled to make something of yourself and not internalising your unfortunate circumstance is really inspiring especially to people like myself who find themselves in a similar situation. I turned 29 to months ago and i'm currently in my 2nd year of undergrad studying mathematics, previously I was in a dead end job and decided to do something about my situation rather than be nihilistic or sorry for myself. I also intend to work in finance particularly as a quant like yourself after completing my masters in financial mathematics. Again, thank you for sharing your journey in life and good luck to you.
One of the best videos on the channel
23 yo. Just finished my BA in Finance. I want to be a financial engineer and watching this video has confirmed a lot of my thoughts about grad school and the industry. I really like your content because is honest and informative.
How’s the journey going?
hope you are doing great!
Left the industry to become an entrepreneur. More fulfilling and more rewarding financially
@@realcristiansanchez Hello Cristian! Im a rising sophomore and one of my biggest goals is to become a quant trader. Do you have tips from your own journey ? And did you only major in finance? Hope everything is going well!
Happy early birthday! your videos are always fascinating to watch so thank you and good luck with your next 30
im glad to hear youre doing well! im both excited and scared to see how education and career plays out. thank you for the videos!
This was a fantastic video!! I watched it all the way from start to finish. Thanks for being candid and putting out value for us people that appreciate it!
Happy birthday, Dimitry. I can tell you really enjoy what you’re doing right now and that makes you a very good quant material. Way too go
Awesome video, thanks for sharing your experience Dimitri ! I am thinking about becoming a quant and this was really an inspiring video for me. Also I loved how humble and down to earth you were (I mean in the way you introspected your past experiences). Anyway, I hope you can continue on your way toward happiness .
I really appreciate you taking the time to share your story because I've had very similar struggles in my life. I'm a year older than you and just now halfway through my masters in Stats. This video was very uplifting, perfect for the holiday season.
This is quality content right here. This is exactly what I needed for academic and career motivation. Especially here in Dallas. I feel like I have to branch out to succeed after grad school.
I've been watching your videos for a while now and I'm currently an undergrad freshman. It's really an inspiring story and you've definitely motivated me to not stop learning. Thank you
This video is more than 2 years old and exactly what I was looking for. Right now I am in the same situation as you have been since I am pursuing a business degree and want to make the transition to quant finance.
Your story with all the highs and lows is quite inspiring. Love your videos.
You seem to be a cool guy, thanks for sharing your story! I'm about to turn 21 and feel like I'm in a situation similar to yours after you got your undergrad degree - about to graduate from an expensive private school with a degree that doesn't fit my passion anymore and isn't really valued by a lot of big companies or graduate schools. Was really interesting to hear your story, and definitely gives some hope and inspiration to just keep on going!
Dimitri, your videos are very inspiring. I can’t wait to watch all of your videos and become a quant someday! I have a degree in applied math and work in banking already so I think my chances are good given I put in the effort!
I'm the same age as you, and the life backstory is quite literally the same. Although I'm way earlier in my journey - still doing my undergrad. Like you I never imagined pursuing this angle (quant) from the get go, but I just seem to inexorably gravitate towards it. At least I know it's possible even later in life, and via an unconventional route. Thanks for sharing.
Happy birthday Dimitri. As we will work at least until 65-70 you are too young! You are a true inspiration. I am eager as always to see your new videos. Greetings from Greece
Your videos, Dimitri, help me in my current decision process about my further career path.
Honest video that inspires many! Pleasure watching this video Dimitri,🙂
Great channel, Dimitri. Props! :)
This is such a great channel Dimitri. Thankfully there is someone shedding some lights into this world. Subscribed and will keep on following.
Thanks for the feedback and the subscribe!
Thank you Dimitri. You are great. Your success is examplery.
Thanks Tek! It was always a pleasure working with you.
Great story...quite relatable. Appreciate you sharing
Really inspiring Dimitri, The story gave me chills
Happy birthday and congratulations on what you have already achieved in your youthful life. (Oh, and I have a daughter about your age. You are still a youngster!)
Fantastic Video really really insightful!
your transparency is great! helps a ton being able to learn from someone with experience.
Thanks!
You and I have many parallels, you sir are an inspiration. Glad I subscribed to your channel today.
Thanks for subscribing and being a part of the channel!
Hey Dimitri. I stumbled on to your RUclips channel this afternoon and am so impressed with you and with what you have done with your life!
You’re a super smart guy, but communicate in a way that even a PE teacher like me can understand :)
Keep up the good work,
Mr. Guest
Thanks! Are you THE Mr. Guest from Hamblen?
Yep that’s me!
I believe in telepathy. Just some day ago I was thinking of asking how old you are. 30 man, you're out of twenties. Thank you for sharing your story, I see no one in the world has an easy life, everyone has to fight. Enjoy your "new era"!
Your honesty is appreciated
Thank you
thank u for making all these videos
You're welcome.
I know I am 2 years too late but this was most motivating video I have ever seen!
It's never too late if it motivates you!
Thank you
Great story!
wow man, you dag yourself out the big hole, thanks for sharing Sir. If you feel like making a list of those materials that helped you through math and get on the proper track of fin. engineering, that would be great if you share. I like your point of view on cheap things education because indeed there is a difference between a degree and The real degree. Good luck to you Sir.
I've used a combination of books, friends, and online materials. RUclips has been an amazing place though (see channels below). I also have book reviews in a playlist on my channel if you are interested.
Math: "Patrick JMT"
Programming: "TheNewBoston"
Stats: Ben Lambert
Financial Engineering: Nathan Whitehead
Thank you for sharing it Bianco. I am a 22 year old kid. I did very poor job in trading and lost around $200,000 by trading options in my junior year in university. I was in depression for a while. Looking back, this loss was really a good lesson to me, and I know how to slow my path for pursuing financially success now. I am going to study mathematics in graduate school next fall and I will give up trading for next 5 years so that I can really enjoy this journey in math. I like the intensity of the game of trading, but I know so far I could not handle the emotions involved. I hope I could further learn from you about the current math topics in quant and I hope I can gain some insights about my future research areas. Merry Christmas!
Thanks for sharing your story. I think it's beneficial for others to see the unique journey we end up taking.
I'm not sure how I wound up on your video, but I believe some of your comments about grad school are correct. Your choice of school is important especially if you are in finance. Also, you clearly have self drive which I would add is critical to success in ANYTHING.
I would agree 100%. Self drive is 90% or more of the success in life.
Your rigorous background will go far further than a goldman VP when they retire. Many will say doing retail is harder than professional work because you lose the support network. Its still possible that you could make more managing your own money than being employed. Further, come another economic crisis the wheat will be separated from the chaff, something that is blind to titles and degrees. Good on you.
Dimitri, you're awesome for taking the time to do all of these informative videos, so thank you for that.
I relate to a few things in this video and want to get your perspective. I have been working in financial services my whole career (in NYC), worked on Wall Street in private banking /asset management. I turned 30 this year and have been thinking about moving into a technical field for the past few years now. Being a Quant would be the ideal change but one thing holding me back is having to spend a lot of money in education just to get into the role and risk taking a pay cut from what I currently earn. I have a BS in applied math and considered the CQF which is the "easier, cheaper" option than a masters. Although obviously it won't be as valuable as an actual masters. So i guess what im trying to ask is, im already 30, could I be too late to pursue a Quant position ? Does it make sense to start spending time and money to make the switch? Thanks in advance for taking the time!
Overall this is a tough decision. Below are the options I see that you might considered.
1) Self learn quant techniques and add them to your current career. You may never get a full time quant job from this option however it can make your current path more interesting.
2) As you mentioned, you could do an online degree such as the CQF or another online degree. This could pay off given you already have experience in the industry which would make getting a job easier. It's cheaper and easier however it isn't looked highly upon by the industry.
3) Part-time MFE. A part-time MFE is still expensive however it allows you to get a brick and mortar degree. NYC is the perfect location for this option because Baruch, NYU, Columbia, and Rutgers all have part-time students. These programs are designed for current practitioners like yourself.
4) Full-time Masters. You can allows get a full-time masters degree however it will be expensive and you won't have a job. Given your situation I would do the part-time degree instead of the full-time degree.
5) Get a PhD. This route is most likely not what you were wanting but if done correctly you can get a PhD for free but you would be a full-time student.
Given your situation I would do the part-time MFE if you really want to make the career switch to quant finance. Doing an online degree would be my second choice. Some employers might not ask if it is online or not if you take it from a program that has a brick and mortar version of the same degree. There are a handful of these programs in the US that I think would look better than the CQF. The last option I would consider is doing self learning or the free WQU masters. The WQU won't teach you everything you would need so you would have to do a lot of self studying which can be challenging given the lack of materials. This route would require a lot of self marketing to convince others you can do the job even with a free online degree.
As for being 30, no it's not too late. A lot of quant teams have a few young guys that are between 25-35 and then a group in their 50's. Most places I have worked don't have a clear promotion path as a lot of us are all doing the same work regardless of age or seniority.
As for, "is it worth it?" That's really a personal decision. If you find the quant finance intellectually stimulating and something you would enjoy doing the rest of your career then I would say it is worth it. If money is really important to you then your current route might be a better option. If you want to being surrounded by other quants then getting a degree can be worth it however if you are just interested in applying and learning new techniques then staying where you are and self learning might be a better option. I've had many jobs where they were doing things in Excel or using not very technical methods and I had convinced them over time to switch to more advanced methods. One example was doing macro economic data cleaning in Excel for hundreds of variables and then plotting them to see if there were data quality issues. I ended up automating the process in SAS which would plot everything and then generate messages regarding potential data quality issues.
In general I would take some time to really think about what you are giving up and what you would be getting in return.
@@DimitriBianco thanks a million for taking time to give me a detailed and thorough response. Will definitely take your advice into consideration!
Thank you for sharing all of this, it is encouraging that if you put time and effort you could achieve what you want (I know is not the same for everyone). Could you PLEASE give me an advise, I just turned 29 years old and even though I am currently working in hedging commodities and six months at a big insurance company as a financial controller, I do not find any good opportunities or have had good work experience, what do you think about people going back to school even though they are quite old in order to "try to get a better chance to find a better job". Thank you for your videos and for the reply!
For quantitative finance I don't think age is too big of a hurdle. Many PhDs are older by the time they start. It will take time and money though, so I would think hard about why you are interested in quant finance.
I'm 19 and just finished my Bachelor of Actuarial Science. Hopefully completing my fellowship by the time i'm 25
hey dimitri I am a undergrad finance student at Boston university and your career path resonated with me heavily because for grad school I also wanna take a crack at a quant heavy masters. However, I'm not that good at it so I just wanted to ask you how you were able to catch up on all the stats and quant heavy concepts given that you were a finance undergrad student
I took a semester off to study and I already had a programming background. Even with those two factors it was a lot of work and a mental struggle.
Since you are more like self taught person. Can you make a video on how you learn math?
Yes, I will be having more videos focused around this topic. There should be a video coming out within the next month on setting up self learning projects.
I'm finishing my applied math bachelors next semester and I really wanna persue higher studies in Math. My area of interest is non linear dynamics and chaos. I'm afraid I wont be able to make a career out of math. I dont know much about finance tho, but i've heard mathematical finance uses lots of differential equations and appearently theres lots of chaos involved? How hard would it be for a math person as myself to get into finance and becoming a quant???
this video is 4 years old but im just turning 30 now. currently unemployed and looking to get a masters degree in financial mathematics with an applied physics background (no related work experience). do you think starting at 30++ is a good idea?
Thank you for your videos, they are very interesting and helpful! I’ve got a little question, is owning a bachelor’s in math/statistics necessary for masters in quantitative finance/financial engineering? I’m currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in economics and finance with however quite good level of econometrics and statistics taught. Next year I’ll even have the subject called “quantitative finance”. So I wonder whether the knowledge given by my degree will be enough for applying to masters i want...
It depends on the quality of the grad program. If you take enough math and stats through your undergrad you should do okay but you might need to study a little between the programs. Some of the programs have a summer boot camp. There is also a good prep book available. If you're interested I can post a link to it.
As long as you do well on the gre and write a good statement of purpose you should be able to get into a few good programs.
@@DimitriBianco Thanks a lot for your answer! Yes, it would be great. Another small question, what knowledge in maths and stats do I need to get to good quant programs or where can I find exact requirements? On admission websites they just write "good knowledge of math is required..." but do not specify what math...
What do you think of the masters of finance degree (MSF)? Are they useful to break into the industry for a young person or are they a waste?
They can be a route to break into traditional finance but not quantitative finance. I think getting an MBA from a top program would be a better choice though for traditional finance and banking.
One of my cousins got his CFA and he works for a quant hedge fund
I stopped your video when you started to talk about students and clicking and not helping anybody outside of the click. This is very true. It lets me know you are the real deal. Not to say they didnt have there reasons. Right now i am 36 going through my physics bachelors and it is so dismal how I am going to get into grad school due to all the factors against me that affected my GPA. Im married, 3 kids, live 1 hr away. Had no idea what I was doing. It sucked for you, but imagine trying to do it as an old man like me...
The age factor definitely makes is more challenging. A guy in my undergrad was similar. He served in the army for some years before deciding to go to college. He was really nice but he didn't fit with a lot of people due to age.
I Love You
Hi Dimitri. Do most people who like math and go into financial engineering enjoy their job?
That's a tough question. The people I have met in the industry with strong math backgrounds tend to like their jobs however I am guessing that those who didn't like the industry probably left.
Different areas do different amounts of math and to different degrees. For example, someone who engineers derivative products (proprietary pricing equations) would do more hands on math than someone in risk management who would spend more time with programming statistical models. I do spend time on some projects breaking down final equations to see how they work on a more simplistic level but this isn't a daily task.
160k in debt, oh man
Hello Demitri,
I am currently doing a stat major and math minor in my country,Ghana.
As i want to end well in Quant but funding my education is a problem, what MS program and university should I consider in the US or UK with scholarship?
Take a look at Stony Brook and Baruch. Both programs are known to either be cheaper or provide good scholarships. Both are solid programs as well.
The education system is messed up my guy, sorry about all of that. Great video though :), thanks
From where I can start to learn quant.
If you are wanting to learn on your own then books are your best bet however I have videos and you might like Nathan Whitehead's ( ruclips.net/user/NathanWhitehead ) RUclips channel as well. If you want to be a quant professionally...then you need at minimum a Masters degree in not a PhD. Most get degrees in financial engineering (financial mathematics, computational finance) or statistics.
This is the start to some of my more technical videos. I also have one or two on binomial asset pricing. ruclips.net/video/hvxQphdRzUQ/видео.html
Why is it bad to go to the same school for grad as undergrad? Not implying anything I just honestly don't know and haven't heard that before.
This has really stemmed from the academic community however I think a lot of industry quants continue to hold this belief. Universities usually have a specific focus and slant (their own view on a subject). By attending the same university you will miss out on different perspectives. Economics is an easy example to see as some schools are classical, Keynesian, or Austrian (there are also other groups). When this comes to other areas such as math, science, and engineering some people assume it is fact based and there are not different views however once you get into these academic areas you will see the feuds between different ideas and approaches.
I've seen a similar situation in the industry as well where someone was turned down for a manager promotion because they didn't have outside (other banking) experience.
Go cougs!
did you had perfect quant score on gre?
No. But I was around 1,400 out of 1,600 if I remember right. The scores are based on the old exams which were 800 per exam.
Is the title supposed to say 'Relecting'?
Lol, that's a typo. Let me see if I can fix it.
Difficult life + great output-> high IQ identified
PS: your
PS: i wanted to that thank you for your videos, they helps to determine the directions