I am an HFT Programmer • Hacker News Board

Re: I am an HFT Programmer

#241

Post by HockeyPlayer » Mon, Aug 01, 2011, 5:58 PM UTC

nl wrote: post #212

nl wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The only way for an engineer to make real money is to be a quant, found a startup or join an early stage startup." This statement should be included in every CS curriculum. Except it isn't true (depending on your definition of "real money"). It's not especially hard to make high 6 figures (and even low 7 figures) as a consultant, if you specialize and sell yourself well. This may be low by the standards of the $20M…

Obviously either my maths or my facts are wrong here because I'm being killed with the downvotes. Explain where I went wrong please?

High 6 figures is $800k/year. Most consultants who aren't published authors have trouble getting to $200k.

Maybe you can back up your statement with some numbers?

Re: I am an HFT Programmer

#242

Post by Tycho » Mon, Aug 01, 2011, 9:51 PM UTC

MarkPNeyer wrote: post #2

they get paid well, but they're also doing work of dubious value. i left trading because i wanted to do something that i knew would make a positive impact on the world.

Wouldn't it have been better, as far as making a positive impact on the world goes, to just keep your job and redirect a large portion of your paycheque to a worthier cause? This is a sincere question. You must have considered that, right?

Re: I am an HFT Programmer

#243

Post by nl » Mon, Aug 01, 2011, 10:38 PM UTC

HockeyPlayer wrote: post #241

nl wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously either my maths or my facts are wrong here because I'm being killed with the downvotes. Explain where I went wrong please?

High 6 figures is $800k/year. Most consultants who aren't published authors have trouble getting to $200k. Maybe you can back up your statement with some numbers?

$200k is good money for your normal $100-$150/hour programmer/consultant.

The trick is additional sources that aren't as closely linked to your hours.

Some possibilities include flat-fee security audits/seo consultations, fee-per-person training, retainers for support etc etc.

Re: I am an HFT Programmer

#244

Post by colanderman » Mon, Aug 01, 2011, 10:39 PM UTC

philwelch wrote: post #191

colanderman wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You want to buy a house? Well the only reason you can get a loan is that investor (and/or depositor) funds are matched to you. Is there any reason why this should be enabled, and profited from, by a select few commercial IBs who are "in the know", as opposed to a government entity which reinvests the profits into, say, a low-income housing fund or social security?

You could say the same about nearly every business enterprise, but the history of nationalized industry provides all the answers you need.

No, there are certain industries which seem to perform better when the government enters as a competitor. e.g. healthcare, postal services, police forces, military, media, communication networks... many things which we often take for granted.

As outlined by others, market liquidity is beneficial to everyone, not just bankers, but market-making driven solely by profit leads to trouble (as evidenced by recent events). This parallels other nationalized industries (such as healthcare and police forces), and I expect that the benefits other pseudo-nationalized industries have seen would extend to market-making as well.

Re: I am an HFT Programmer

#245

Post by philwelch » Tue, Aug 02, 2011, 2:08 AM UTC

colanderman wrote: post #244

philwelch wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could say the same about nearly every business enterprise, but the history of nationalized industry provides all the answers you need.

No, there are certain industries which seem to perform better when the government enters as a competitor. e.g. healthcare, postal services, police forces, military, media, communication networks... many things which we often take for granted. As outlined by others, market liquidity is beneficial to everyone , not just bankers, but market-making driven solely by profit leads to trouble (as evidenced by recent events).…

Most of that is infrastructure, not industry.

Re: I am an HFT Programmer

#246

Post by wyclif » Wed, Aug 03, 2011, 8:47 AM UTC

ZephyrP wrote: post #121

wyclif wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're forgetting one crucial problem. Younger developers may or may not have more energy, but one thing they don't have is experience. Never, ever, underestimate experience.

Something of a false mutual-exclusion. Due to the massive influx of cheap computing hardware in the late 90s, There are 17-22 year old people who have been programming and studying math & CS for 10 years. 10 years is a lot of experience.

http://codethulu.org/