Hello all,
First and foremost, excellent forum. Lots of great information and the community seems very supportive/informative.
Long story short - I am interested in entering the field of computational finance and I wanted to ask about the best way to achieve this goal considering my background. I really don't know anyone in the field so I was glad to find this forum.
Now for the long story...
My formal training is in chemical engineering. I have a BS with a specialization in tissue engineering and a PhD where I focused on microfluidics research (lab-on-a-chip). My favorite aspect of all of my research experiences was computational modeling and learning numerical methods. Following the completion of my PhD with a predominantly laboratory-based project, I decided to seek a postdoctoral appointment in supercomputing to explore my passion for computational modeling. Ultimately, I was hoping to utilize my postdoctoral appointment to attain a position in modeling and simulation. For the last year and a half, I have worked with the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute at the University of Minnesota. The focus of my work was to study the self-assembly of collagen IV in basement membrane tissues (e.g. the glomerular basement membrane). I absolutely love computing/code-writing/numerical methods. I recently used my skill-set to attain a position as a NASA contractor in the field of modeling and analysis.
Over the course of the last ten years, I have developed skills in the fields of C++/Fortran/Matlab programming, computational fluid dynamics, molecular Monte Carlo, lattice Boltzmann methods, and code parallelization with OpenMP and MPI. On the side, I have been reading about finance and investing what meager amount of money I can conjure up on a postdoc salary.
Recently, I have become very interested in learning about how I can apply the computational skills I developed in chemical physics and fluid dynamics to enter the field of finance. As I mentioned, I just started a new job. The bad news is that this contractually precludes me from seeking a position in computational finance for a while (a year at minimum). The good news is that my employer will reimburse me for extra education. I hope to use this opportunity to take courses and attain a degree that positions me for a computational finance position in the future.
So below includes a list of questions that I would be interested in having answered. If anyone can provide insight and help me strategize, I would be greatly appreciative.
1) I am tied down for the next year but I have the opportunity to pursue additional education. How can I best take advantage of this opportunity? I am thinking of starting an MBA program and specializing in finance (there are a number of good schools locally). Is an MBA program a good choice or should I focus my efforts elsewhere?
2) In the meantime, what can I do on the side to improve my knowledge of computational finance? For example, do you have any books you highly recommend? Can I start writing code to do experiments in computational finance on the side (e.g. Monte Carlo methods)? Are there any journals that are accessible to a person with somewhat limited experience in finance (I see there is the Journal of Computational Finance - any other good journals you would recommend)?
3) Do you have any other recommendations about how I can further explore computational finance?
First and foremost, excellent forum. Lots of great information and the community seems very supportive/informative.
Long story short - I am interested in entering the field of computational finance and I wanted to ask about the best way to achieve this goal considering my background. I really don't know anyone in the field so I was glad to find this forum.
Now for the long story...
My formal training is in chemical engineering. I have a BS with a specialization in tissue engineering and a PhD where I focused on microfluidics research (lab-on-a-chip). My favorite aspect of all of my research experiences was computational modeling and learning numerical methods. Following the completion of my PhD with a predominantly laboratory-based project, I decided to seek a postdoctoral appointment in supercomputing to explore my passion for computational modeling. Ultimately, I was hoping to utilize my postdoctoral appointment to attain a position in modeling and simulation. For the last year and a half, I have worked with the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute at the University of Minnesota. The focus of my work was to study the self-assembly of collagen IV in basement membrane tissues (e.g. the glomerular basement membrane). I absolutely love computing/code-writing/numerical methods. I recently used my skill-set to attain a position as a NASA contractor in the field of modeling and analysis.
Over the course of the last ten years, I have developed skills in the fields of C++/Fortran/Matlab programming, computational fluid dynamics, molecular Monte Carlo, lattice Boltzmann methods, and code parallelization with OpenMP and MPI. On the side, I have been reading about finance and investing what meager amount of money I can conjure up on a postdoc salary.
Recently, I have become very interested in learning about how I can apply the computational skills I developed in chemical physics and fluid dynamics to enter the field of finance. As I mentioned, I just started a new job. The bad news is that this contractually precludes me from seeking a position in computational finance for a while (a year at minimum). The good news is that my employer will reimburse me for extra education. I hope to use this opportunity to take courses and attain a degree that positions me for a computational finance position in the future.
So below includes a list of questions that I would be interested in having answered. If anyone can provide insight and help me strategize, I would be greatly appreciative.
1) I am tied down for the next year but I have the opportunity to pursue additional education. How can I best take advantage of this opportunity? I am thinking of starting an MBA program and specializing in finance (there are a number of good schools locally). Is an MBA program a good choice or should I focus my efforts elsewhere?
2) In the meantime, what can I do on the side to improve my knowledge of computational finance? For example, do you have any books you highly recommend? Can I start writing code to do experiments in computational finance on the side (e.g. Monte Carlo methods)? Are there any journals that are accessible to a person with somewhat limited experience in finance (I see there is the Journal of Computational Finance - any other good journals you would recommend)?
3) Do you have any other recommendations about how I can further explore computational finance?
