PhD. in Computer Science Quant Career Prospects

[slp]

I'm currently pursuing a MSE in Computer Science and am most likely going to get a PhD (concentrating in machine learning or artificial intelligence). I've entertained the idea of going to a hedge-fund or some financial firm after the completion of my schooling; however, I'm not certain how good of an applicant I would be/what type of positions I would qualify for. I want to make it clear that I'm not going into a CS PhD program so that I can go into finance afterwards, but I'd like to know how feasible of a transition it would be for me.
I went to a prestigious undergrad program/masters program and will most likely attend a comparable PhD program. From what I can tell, my programming skills/math skills (completed my undergrad with a BS in Mathematics and my masters/PhD is/will be extremely quantitatively oriented) are highly desirable, but will my lack of financial knowledge prohibit me from landing a good position? Also, as a PhD. in CS, what type of positions can I expect to start off in/what's a reasonable salary expectation?

Thanks in advance.

 

[mscquant]

any buyside role doesn't really require any finance knowledge at the beginning of your career, especially if you're in algorithmic/hf space.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

will my lack of financial knowledge prohibit me from landing a good position?

Employers would choose a great CS/programmer without finance experience any day. Finance knowledge is easy to train/obtain while CS/math/programming skill is much harder/longer to obtain.
Also, look into big data, another field that have growing need for CS PhD grads.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Big data is a buzzword and it has to deal with the huge amount of data that each industry generates everyday. It has more applications than just the finance industry.
You can see how it is used in finance. Just look at the number of events posted on our site
https://www.quantnet.com/events/big-data-finance-may-3-2013.45/
https://www.quantnet.com/events/excel-big-data-day-new-york-19th-april-2013-special-discount.42/

 

[slp]

Employers would choose a great CS/programmer without finance experience any day. Finance knowledge is easy to train/obtain while CS/math/programming skill is much harder/longer to obtain.
Also, look into big data, another field that have growing need for CS PhD grads.

Thank you! I'm most likely going to stick with something CS related, but it's nice to know that I have additional options.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

You may find this article of some interest. This is how the new approach on how to bridge tech training and business.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/n...r-commerce-amid-education.html?pagewanted=all

Cornell is trying to do in NYC what Stanford has been doing in Silicon Valley.