Ask HN: Career at Intersection of Econ/CS?

#1

Post by joeperks » Sat, Feb 14, 2015, 5:07 PM UTC

I find economics and computer science more interesting than anything else, but am unsure of how I can turn this into a career. (Currently an Infrastructure Engineer at a startup, enjoying that position very much because of the rate at which I am learning).

Does anyone know of projects/companies that are seeking people interested in economics and CS, or of people who hold positions where they use knowledge in both of these areas?

Does anyone else also enjoy econ and CS above all other subjects? (Like a lot of people on HN, I have a variety of interests, but these two trump them all).

Re: Ask HN: Career at Intersection of Econ/CS?

#2

Post by mousa » Sat, Feb 14, 2015, 5:29 PM UTC

That is probably one of the easiest combinations to get a career right now. Hedge funds, other investment companies, pretty much all the finance industry is on the hunt for people who know a lot of about computer science and have interest in economics or finance. Maybe it's just an east coast thing but it seems like half of job postings for Python are along these lines.

Re: Ask HN: Career at Intersection of Econ/CS?

#3

Post by sraquo » Sun, Feb 15, 2015, 1:09 AM UTC

Apart from big finance / trading corporations there are quite a few smaller companies building SaaS software in finance. Also, multiplayer games with trading.

Personally, I like Economics problems too but chose to focus on software development a long time ago. The alternative to me at the time was finance with VBA / MS Access coding sprinkled in. No thanks.

Re: Ask HN: Career at Intersection of Econ/CS?

#4

Post by jkaykin » Sun, Feb 15, 2015, 5:22 AM UTC

What about economics interests you? I absolutely love economics, but deeper than that, I love understanding why people do things and how the thoughts to do those things arise. Thus, I have found cognitive science to be a happy medium between (behavioral) economics and computer science. You could work on NLP/AI type startups and data analysis. One startup that comes to mind is: https://wit.ai/jobs

Re: Ask HN: Career at Intersection of Econ/CS?

#5

Post by taprun » Sun, Feb 15, 2015, 7:25 PM UTC

mousa wrote: post #2

That is probably one of the easiest combinations to get a career right now. Hedge funds, other investment companies, pretty much all the finance industry is on the hunt for people who know a lot of about computer science and have interest in economics or finance. Maybe it's just an east coast thing but it seems like half of job postings for Python are along these lines.

I'm honestly not seeing this. Perhaps it's where I live, but I have a double major in econ/computer science and graduate degrees in each of those fields, and I've rarely seen any job ads that wanted expertise in both...

Re: Ask HN: Career at Intersection of Econ/CS?

#6

Post by joeperks » Fri, Feb 27, 2015, 11:47 PM UTC

jkaykin wrote: post #4

What about economics interests you? I absolutely love economics, but deeper than that, I love understanding why people do things and how the thoughts to do those things arise. Thus, I have found cognitive science to be a happy medium between (behavioral) economics and computer science. You could work on NLP/AI type startups and data analysis. One startup that comes to mind is: https://wit.ai/jobs

Thanks for this! Great comment for sure.

AI is definitely of interest to me, but unfortunately I am unsure why economics interests me. I would say that it is because I like knowing what people value, but that is admittedly painting with broad strokes.

Re: Ask HN: Career at Intersection of Econ/CS?

#7

Post by joeperks » Fri, Feb 27, 2015, 11:49 PM UTC

taprun wrote: post #5

mousa wrote: post #2

That is probably one of the easiest combinations to get a career right now. Hedge funds, other investment companies, pretty much all the finance industry is on the hunt for people who know a lot of about computer science and have interest in economics or finance. Maybe it's just an east coast thing but it seems like half of job postings for Python are along these lines.

I'm honestly not seeing this. Perhaps it's where I live, but I have a double major in econ/computer science and graduate degrees in each of those fields, and I've rarely seen any job ads that wanted expertise in both...

I would love to buy you a virtual coffee or month of reddit and chat about this sometime if you're down.

Re: Ask HN: Career at Intersection of Econ/CS?

#8

Post by joeperks » Fri, Feb 27, 2015, 11:49 PM UTC

sraquo wrote: post #3

Apart from big finance / trading corporations there are quite a few smaller companies building SaaS software in finance. Also, multiplayer games with trading. Personally, I like Economics problems too but chose to focus on software development a long time ago. The alternative to me at the time was finance with VBA / MS Access coding sprinkled in. No thanks.

Oh yeah I flinched at the mention of VBA and MS Access.

Thanks for the input!

Re: Ask HN: Career at Intersection of Econ/CS?

#9

Post by joeperks » Fri, Feb 27, 2015, 11:50 PM UTC

mousa wrote: post #2

That is probably one of the easiest combinations to get a career right now. Hedge funds, other investment companies, pretty much all the finance industry is on the hunt for people who know a lot of about computer science and have interest in economics or finance. Maybe it's just an east coast thing but it seems like half of job postings for Python are along these lines.

Though I am happy with where I am now, I will definitely look into this to see what they might be looking for.