What is a quant? (explained by a quant developer)

In this video I go over what a quant is, how much they make, and what it takes to become one. I work with quants every week, and I've had requests to explain what they do.

[vijayparekh]

Your words are very smooth. Understood easily. You are way much underrated. Long path to go. Kudos!

[jamestogher]

Love your videos, packed with information, no bullshit, and sneaky funny. Prob my favorite Youtube account at the moment.

[Thegiant]

As a quant you’re backtesting strategies that are mostly based on finding anomalies which most likely comes from technical analysis. However you’ve created a video disagreeing with TA and how it doesn’t work. So why would your firm backtest these strategies that require some degree of TA.

[ugwusomto]

You really are coding jesus for real 😆 -- nice video

[thealmightyfather]

You are doing good my child. Keep it comin.

[psibarpsi]

So, what do they need exactly?

From the video, I get an idea that they should be good with
- Python
- Data Analytics
- Machine Learning
- Git and Version Control
- Mathematics

Am I missing something? Is the list superfluous? Tell me!

[antoniorobles]

Thank you for explaining this man, we appreciate it

[ritwikganguly]

how much does a quantitative developer make generally? What about developers at the top of their field? 10 years down the line? What's the compensation difference between analysts, traders, and developers? What's a ballpark number of your own salary(if you're comfortable with that)?

[Michsel]

Many quants with a physics background at my place

[bouzie]

Great video! Is there a version of this video for the quantitative developer? You alluded to making one. I am very curious on the skills and learning path, interviews and the pay structure (particularly bonuses). Because if you are tired to the models the quant analysts/researchers make, does that mean your bonuses are dependent on them as well? Since you're not creating any models yourself

[vineeth_]

Great one! Do throw some light on steps to become a quant and the resources in the upcoming videos.

[cuongly]

Hidden gem! What resources do you recommend to practice / improve soft skills?

[christmas]

AWESOME VIDEO YOUR AWESOMENESS if only genius could be taught

[miloventimiglia]

Thanks for shedding some light upon this. I was wondering about the use of Scala and Akka within the Finance world. Have you come across any application/code basis written in Scala? Or does C++ suffice for most of the things you guys do?

[Adam-mgke]

Great video. Surprised you don’t have over 100, 000 subscribers

[gycyosg]

Just found your channel absolutely brilliant and thanks for sharing your knowledge! Quick question, could you please explain how cross sectional stat Arb works? I heard Manoj Narang talk about how all HFT/quant trading is basically just providing liquidity to investors, market makers are the first to provide it, then stat Arb when the dislocations become bigger, I understand the market makers make the bid ask spread, but is the cross sectional stat Arb achieving this but in a more robust way or is it pure mean reversion? Thanks!!

[lahuretz]

This was very good! Only feedback is perhaps you could refrain from saying “he/him” as it’s assumptive. As an industry, we need to be trying to have a diverse work force in all manners. But yeah, absolutely loved your video. Rhanks.

[masterprattu]

Hey CJ, can you please make a video explaining what the 'strat' role is in IB, and how it differs from a quant/ or a developer? From the high level, it seems like a mix of both.

[Paivren]

New follower here :)

So we have three broad Quant types:
Quant analyst: Mostly develops models and evaluates them, does some trading.
Quant trader: Mostly does trading based on those models, does some modelling himself.
Quant developer: Implements the models as high quality software.

Not sure where I would fit best... Doing a PhD focussed on machine learning with a strong coding component, mostly Python, some C++. From this perspective Quant analyst would be best. But I would love to do more in C++ and get better with it. Is C++ actually useful for a Quant analyst? Prototyping some ML models is much easier with Python after all... And if I tried to enter Quant dev roles, how useful would my maths/ML knowledge actually be? Would I try out my own ideas as well, or would I simply need to translate the Quants' models into high quality code?

Keep up the great work, very useful channel to get informed about this field.

[FBIAlex]

not coding Jesus😂.. he looks middle eastern too. it’s so accurate. 👍