Python or Java acceptable in Quant interview?

[gongzhike.david]

I know C++ is important and seems to be necessary in Quant interview. But I'm more familiar with Python and Java. So I wonder if I should switch to C++ or stick with Python or Java when finding quant related jobs. I appreciate any advice about it.

 

[C S]

Python has a very good rep on Wall Street especially the last several years. I would play up your Python skills (eg "I can script and deploy production quality code within minutes"), and familiarize yourself with Jython. Java is used in many types of systems, including front office at big IBs. C or C++ would be used in low latency gateways or routers and numerical optimization.

 

[gongzhike.david]

Python has a very good rep on Wall Street especially the last several years. I would play up your Python skills (eg "I can script and deploy production quality code within minutes"), and familiarize yourself with Jython. Java is used in many types of systems, including front office at big IBs. C or C++ would be used in low latency gateways or routers and numerical optimization.

Thank you so much! So your suggestion is to sharpen up my Python skills to achieve the best? But some big companies may specifically ask you to program using C++ during the interview. How to deal with this conflict?

 

[C S]

Thank you so much! So your suggestion is to sharpen up my Python skills to achieve the best? But some big companies may specifically ask you to program using C++ during the interview. How to deal with this conflict?

Plenty of people, including me, did not get a quant job because they didn't know Python. There will always be something you don't know. You should look for jobs that fit your skill set. Only if they don't exist in abundance should you worry. And Python and Java is a very solid skill set.

This is assuming you are good at them. If you haven't really invested much time or effort into those languages, sure go ahead and invest time in whatever else you think you need. But a good interviewer will pick you apart if you aren't good at the language.

 

[gongzhike.david]

Plenty of people, including me, did not get a quant job because they didn't know Python. There will always be something you don't know. You should look for jobs that fit your skill set. Only if they don't exist in abundance should you worry. And Python and Java is a very solid skill set.

This is assuming you are good at them. If you haven't really invested much time or effort into those languages, sure go ahead and invest time in whatever else you think you need. But a good interviewer will pick you apart if you aren't good at the language.

I got your point. Thanks again! You are also in New York ?

 

[yetanotherquant]

I know C++ is important and seems to be necessary in Quant interview. But I'm more familiar with Python and Java. So I wonder if I should switch to C++ or stick with Python or Java when finding quant related jobs. I appreciate any advice about it.

It really depends what are you going to do.
For a real time calculation it should be C++
For prototyping Python is fine (I would also have a look at R).
Java is very popular for frontends, webservices, etc. Still not very common as a language for computationally intensive tasks but on the other hand OpenGamma (http://www.opengamma.com) is written in Java.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

There is a feeling in some circles that if you can weather C++ you can *easily* learn any other language like C#, Java and Python. These latter languages protect you form evil hardware.