Charlotte Quants : I seek your advice

[Shaker]

Hi All,
I'm from Charlotte, NC, working for one of the financial company here for past 6 years. I have been working in Java/J2EE for past 10 years. I'm thinking of taking 'Quant' as my next career. I'm about 35 yrs old.

I want to know your opinion, how difficult it would be to get into this role? What preparations I have to do for this.

Has any of you entered into Quant in similar situation? Am I making a wrong career path at this age, what kind of position I can expect if I look for a quant role in Bank of America or Wells fargo? What kind of pay can I expect?

I'm at cross roads, trying to chose a Quant career path or continue in tech lead and thus end up manager etc position. Please help by providing your inputs.

PS: Right now I'm in Charlotte, NC, have a own house but ready to move if I get enough confidence and direct that Quant is my next career. Willing to move..

Looking forward some inputs and boost.

 

[Alexei]

A true Quant position (http://www.markjoshi.com/downloads/advice.pdf) at minimum will require a quantitative background in Statistics, Mathematics and a Finance and some experience. The educational level will also matter - at least a MS/MA level in engineering (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Quantitative_Finance) from a good school will be required but the PHD level will be preferred since this type of work will require a lot of analysis and less programming than in a case with coding.
A lack of proper education would require going back to school for ~1-1.5 years for full-timers and 1.5+ years for part-timers. Given your programming background and appropriate experience | education, the chances of getting into good quant places will be non-zero and the expected time < infinity.
As an option, you can try applying for jobs today - maybe you already have some minimum required level. By doing that, you will see what employers are looking for and what they are offering in return for the service.

 

[Shaker]

Alexei,
Thanks for your response. I do have MS in computer science and ready to go to school for MS in Mathematical finance if that helps.

But, I would like to hear from Charlotte local quants, I want some advice, I want to know how can I get in? What would be starting salary..what kind of quant position I can get with my experience.What's their experience so far, esp how is Charlotte for Quants?

 

[Shaker]

Andy/members.. your inputs/advice is appreciated.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I'm based in NYC so not too familiar with the employment situation in NC. I don't know if Bank of America will eventually move to NYC. It's been rumored for a while http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20091103/FREE/911039985
I would suggest search for people through LinkedIn who may be in the position you describe (quant working in NC).