Organization of quantitative finance careers. Risks vs portfolio management vs automated trading

[Tyler Tuan]

Hi all,

I am preparing myself as a student for a future career in quantitative finance. However, one problem is that I don't know how the career is organized. From time to time, I have heard a lot about front office, back office, model testing, and also risks, portfolio management versus trading. I can distinguish that they are different but still don't have a clear picture. Actually, it seems to me that risks, portfolio and trading are all the same since you have to optimize your portfolio by reducing risk in order to trade.

So, can I anyone please describe my how the jobs are organize in term of positions (front office vs back office; desks...) and fields (risks, derivative, PM, trading, ...). Also, what are they and how are they different?

 

[Ken Abbott]

Read the Careers in Financial Management paper Andy has posted here.

 

[njindian]

Hi all,

I am preparing myself as a student for a future career in quantitative finance. However, one problem is that I don't know how the career is organized. From time to time, I have heard a lot about front office, back office, model testing, and also risks, portfolio management versus trading. I can distinguish that they are different but still don't have a clear picture. Actually, it seems to me that risks, portfolio and trading are all the same since you have to optimize your portfolio by reducing risk in order to trade.

So, can I anyone please describe my how the jobs are organize in term of positions (front office vs back office; desks...) and fields (risks, derivative, PM, trading, ...). Also, what are they and how are they different?

You can try this link as well - http://www.quantstart.com/articles/What-are-the-Different-Types-of-Quantitative-Analysts I too am a novice in this field and found the article to be a useful one.