Is trading the right thing for me?

[Rabenstein]

Hey,

I'm a german physicist, graduated at a german no-name university and getting my PhD from a slightly better known, but still not even second-tier university.

Although I might seem to be predestined to do quantitative stuff, I don't want to spend my life programming in C++, and I'm not really good at it compared to the MIT semigods out there. For one year, I played online poker on a professional basis - it's similar to trading, maximizing your expectation by analyzing a situation on a mathematical and psychological level; the whole mindset is similar as well. So, when I read and heard about trading, I thought this might be it.

The information on the web on how trading careers progress are incomplete at best, so I hope you can give me some advice. Is there a chance for me to get a decent trading position with my qualification (after my PhD is completed), and if yes, do you have any recommendation for me what to trade? It should be a field where my quantitative/analytical background works in my favor and improves my chances of getting a job, but the work itself shouldn't boil down to programming.

Thank you in advance for all replies and experiences, I know these questions are a bit vague, but I found it difficult to extract this information out of the articles I read.

 

[Dommo]

Yes, you could definitely get straight into trading with a Physics PhD, and your poker history should elicit interest. But with your background I suggest you don't discount the quant route - I've seen a number of quants move over to trading. There are some very bespoke, exotic products out there (think long dated interest rate notes dependent on multiple currencies, and with serial optionality/cancellability) - and pricing these things is decidedly non-trivial. For products like these, quants were actively encouraged to consider trading, because they are in the small group of people who can really understand them.

If you worked as a quant for a year or two I'm sure you'd get a better handle on the product lineup and figure out what interests you.

I don't think C++ is a big deal - there are very able quants out there who aren't much good at C++, and with seniority you'd probably more or less kiss goodbye to programming.

No pun intended, but I suggest you keep your options open, and I wish you the best of luck.