Looking for Career Advice

[illhighlight]

I have recently graduated from a Mathematics degree in a top university in Ireland. I have landed a graduate job as a consultant at a professional services firm in the quantitative risk team starting later in the year.

In the next few years I plan to potentially do a masters at a top UK university in order to break into quantitative finance in London. I think I'd mainly be aiming for quantitative analyst roles at the big investment banks and hedge funds. I'm not too interested in HFT at the moment as I think I'm a slightly slower thinker and prefer complex problems that take a while. I'm looking for the mix between academia and real world problems while being able to use my technical/mathematical skills still.

The team I am joining does model development (IRB, IFRS9, Stress Testing, CECL etc), climate risk and valuations (derivatives, fixed incomes, options, swaps etc) as well as validation. I understand it's not directly related to the jobs I'm aiming for. I am trying to find what kind of experience I should be seeking in this job that will best align with my future goals in mind. Should I try to focus on building my network, maybe try ask to be involved with London based clients etc?

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Which top university? TCD?

 

[illhighlight]

Which top university? TCD?

UCD

 

[Daniel Duffy]

I would imagine that with a maths degree then Oxford, Imperial, Warwick might be good choices. In any case, it's a start.

edit: C++ and Python are useful skills.

 

[illhighlight]

I would that with a maths degree then Oxford, Imperial, Warwick might be good choices. In any case, it's a start.

edit: C++ and Python are useful skills.

Thanks for your reply. Oxford/Imperial are definitely on my radar for maybe 1-2 years time after getting some experience. When I start in my upcoming job do you thinks I'm best trying to get as much experience in derivatives, fixed income etc valuations as I can? It's often hard to understand what experience the BB banks and HFs value most. Their job postings in London for quant analyst positions seem quite vague.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

I'm not the best person to answer, but numerical/applied maths and C++ is viewed positively.


@achirikhin
@Paul Lopez