Join Wall Street. Save the world
washingtonpost.com
Join Wall Street. Save the world
1–10 of 105 posts
Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world
#2How can you get into HFT without a degree from an elite school?
Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world
#3How can you get into HFT without a degree from an elite school?
Being young, having very strong referrals from someone who works there and demonstrating building things outside of work or above and beyond what you are supposed to be doing.
Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world
#4$100k is a high finance salary? Maybe for a really low trader...
Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world
#5$100k is a high finance salary? Maybe for a really low trader...
His bonus will make up for that.
Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world
#6I thought the recruitment pitch was, "Join Wall Street, fuck the world."
Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world
#7I am very suspicious of people who say they enter Wall Street to save the world.
That said, I also believe most charity events are very economically inefficient. Rather than get a dozen musicians together for a discounted concert at a small concert hall, wouldn't it be more efficient to ask them all to donate one days worth of sales from performing at arenas?
Rather than get a hundred bankers together for a $250/head dinner, wouldn't it be more efficient to ask them to donate what they'd make in 2 hours? (Although the dinner does have social purposes)
You can like Warren Buffett or hate him, but the best thing he can do for society is earn money and then efficiently give it away to solve big problems. That would be much better than him working full time for the peace corps, or a non-profit.
Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world
#8If you're interested in effective altruism, you might be interested in the Effective Altruism Summit, which will be held from June 30 to July 6 in San Francisco. All four of the effective altruism organizations mentioned in the article (GiveWell, Giving What We Can, The Life You Can Save, and 80,000 Hours) are participating, along with some not mentioned. Peter Singer, Peter Thiel, and Jaan Tallinn (co-creator of Kazaa and Skype) will give talks.
Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world
#9Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world
#10How can you get into HFT without a degree from an elite school?
You have to know the right people. I have a non-CS degree from a pretty average state school but I somehow fell into the world of HFT algo development. I suppose luck played a large role in my case since I wasn't actively seeking that type of job. One of my clients (who had founded a small "prop" shop) liked my work and wanted to give me a shot at developing algorithms, even though I had no prior experience and scant knowledge of financial markets. Fortunately it turned out to be a great fit and I ended up automating nearly every aspect of his operation.
Wall Street banks aren't the only ones doing HFT. The technology to develop and deploy algorithms has become much more accessible in recent years. It's still not cheap - collocated servers, real time data streams, and Bloomberg terminals can rack up tens thousands per month - but you don't need a Wall St. budget to get started.
There are lots of small proprietary trading shops (prop shops) scattered throughout the major financial hubs (NYC, London, Chicago, etc.). These shops typically have 20 employees or less. In my case we had two traders, one programmer (me), and one IT guy. These shops are more likely to care about your skills as a programmer than where you went to school.