Ask HN: How to break into finance without prior exp. or a prestigious degree?

by qd011 on 2/10/2024, 2:07:39 PM with 3 comments
I have 6+ years of experience as a data scientist and ML engineer. I'm interested in the software engineering or quantitative developer roles in hedge funds, trading firms and investment banks but it seems like they require previous finance experience or a degree from a top university, often both. I'm getting a 0% callback rate from cold applications.

Any tips for getting interviews? Is it even realistic to target these roles?

  • by todd_moses on 2/10/2024, 3:00:00 PM

    I did it by writing articles on Medium that attracted the attention of those in the capital market space. After a year or two of this, fund managers would email me - "I read your article..." However, these were small funds.

  • by mamonster on 2/10/2024, 5:21:12 PM

    Just fill out your GitHub with stuff that shows that you can do the coding that is required in a hedge fund/trading firm.

    Some ideas for you:

    1) Build a high performance TCP library.

    2) Build a FIX engine/server

    3) Build a limit order book + matching engine

  • by jsg76 on 2/10/2024, 2:28:05 PM

    Spend a year or two in any software shop in the tristate area that works for Wall St. Once you have that on your resume its easier to get call backs.