ℕ𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕚𝕖𝕝 :
Quant is not computer science or finance. Preface: I double majored in applied math and finance, then I went on to get a masters in finance, and another masters in Mathematics of finance & postgrad at a top 3-5 school in math. (Sorry for the resume dump). “Quant” has become a buzzword the same way “AI” has for LLMs when in reality it’s ML. It’s mainly applied mathematics; probability, stats, linear algebra, SDE’s and some elements borrowed from other areas of abstract math. Yes you need computer science but it’s more data science and basic knowledge working with Python / PyTorch or tensor flow. When in practice need you *need* a masters level understanding of finance, that means you’re an expert in equities, fixed income, derivatives and all the combinations of them (Futures, options, swaps). A finance undergrad or masters will never be a quant, a computer science major could be a dev. That doesn’t make them a quant… At the end of the day a computer science / engineering undergrad has a few less math classes than an applied math undergrad. Maybe they took vector calculus and linear algebra. But not probability & stats I and II, econometrics, etc. Those are the traders—and the researchers are almost always masters atleast. This is my anecdotal experience but for the kid who wants to be a trader/ researcher, don’t waste your time learning C++. <— That’s the entire purpose of my rant. Comp sci majors will be dev’s and only dev’s with few exceptions for top top university grads who could be on the ML research side without a postgrad.
2026-10-05 00:25:46