The Truth on Quant Salaries - First Job

As prospect students look into quantitative finance as a career, many are excited when they hear you can make a half million dollars as a starting salary. While this could be possible it is extremely unlikely. I have been discussing this for years now and I still get comments from subscribers or general viewers who just don't believe me.

Today I am lucky enough to get data from one of the best quantitative finance masters, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). I will go over the skills, salaries, and potential job titles to look for when applying for your first job. I am working with CMU to help market this report and do get a small commission for those who download the report. Now that being said, I truly believe their reports are a great value as they are FREE and I have not seen any other university provide this sort of data to the public. I have been reviewing these reports over the years as they have given me better insight into what the job marketing is looking for and how much salaries should be.

This report covers Sales and Trading, Data Science, Portfolio Management, Financial Modeling, and Risk Management.

There are two reports which can be downloaded which are:
"2020 Career Guide" (this video)
"2022 Alumni Career Report"

Both can be downloaded here:

Website:

Quant t-shirts, mugs, and hoodies:

Connect with me:

[DimitriBianco]

If you found this video helpful, please share it!

[rcmag]

I can say that Dimitri is right on many points. I investigated the quant path for a couple of years before I decided it wasn't for me. The salary range for a quant and big tech, at least at the time of this post are very similar. What made me decide against quant was that it usually comes with a lot more stress than tech.

[ighursu]

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:

00:02 *📊 Understanding Quant Compensation for Graduates*
- Exploring Quant careers from the perspective of graduating students.
- Highlighting the collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University for insights into graduate salaries.
- Discussing the availability and value of CMU's reports for career guidance.
02:27 *📈 Trends in Quantitative Finance Careers*
- Analyzing shifts in positions and roles in quantitative finance from 2008 to 2018.
- Noting the prominence of financial modeling, strategies, and research in quant careers.
- Observing the growth of quantitative portfolio management and data science roles.
05:32 *💰 Debunking Salary Myths in Quantitative Finance*
- Addressing misconceptions about starting salaries in quantitative finance.
- Comparing average starting salaries from quantnet rankings to dispel exaggerated claims.
- Providing realistic salary expectations for entry-level quant roles based on data.

Made with HARPA AI

[asssets]

Thank for the video. Interesting to see a wide range of skill usage in the quant field. Looking for the second video. Would be great to have video on the internships or jobs during the undegrad.

[Isaiah_McIntosh]

Completely off video topic (and you probably don't remember) but my lecturer took me off the overly ambitious (for my current skllset) time series modeling attempt.


My understanding of why I was making certain modeling/proxy decisions was insufficient. So now I've got 2 months or so to learn more econometrics then we'll pick back up next semester with the expectation that I'll probably be working on this stuff, at least in part, for my masters, assuming I stay here.


Edit: real life economic data is so annoying

[oceaser]

Those numbers are much lower than I expected.
I considered going back to school but I have a job that pays 80K now and about 15-20K more with OT and bonus.
Can’t see myself working that hard for basically the same salary.
Good info though and thanks!

[dangkhoatrannguyen]

Thanks Dimitri. I'm looking for my first job now so this content is exactly what I need. Plus you provide more insights than me reading it alone :) I'm really looking to the alumni video next week. I myself don't mind a lower compensation in return for an exciting career path. And surely you'll have things to share :)

[michelbruns]

those mentioned salaries exclude bonuses, from what i have seen, you can easily add another 50k a year on top of that if not more

[tylerthompson]

REALLY GREAT VID FOR AN OVERVIEW AND COMPARING SWE, AND FTE

[sharpieman]

I know multiple people who came out of CMU’s program and can vouch for the people there being high quality, in case anyone watching this is interested in a second opinion.

[spacewalker]

Damn. I’ve been thinking of going back to school because I thought the area was so fascinating. I was hoping the pay was larger than my current role. The stated pay won’t cover my current opportunity cost or the cost of going back to schools.

[ABSTRACTSHNITZEL]

Thank you for making this video. I've actually wondered this myself, as these salaries I typically hear about seem far-fetched. The ones in this video seem a lot more reasonable.

[sharpieman]

On the entry level quant role salary part, I think it depends a lot on what sub-industry you’re applying for. In prop trading 100k would be a very low starting quant salary. For banks that might be more expected, but I’d say for good graduates in prop trading you can expect more a significant amount of the time.

This isn’t to say that this is “typical”, but that if you’re applying for one of these roles you should know your value and negotiate accordingly.

EDIT: However your point about a lot of them being software engineers is probably a good one, that’s been my experience with the higher salary people I’ve been exposed to typically have very strong software engineering skills. So I guess it’s arguable how much of a “true quant” they are.

[mikhailbabushkinum]

Hi Dimitri,

I am finishing a MSc degree in computer science from Georgia Tech, specialty in Machine learning, I have interviewed with Morgan Stanley for a quant Dev role, my question to you, how do I move to QR or QT roles later ? Do I need to go for a PhD,
Thanks

- M.B

[jeffreyhanson]

Don’t quants typically make the majority of their tc from bonuses though?

[ladybg.]

I live in a semi small city like NC and it’s averaging 115k to start and up from there. Semi seniored is more around 130k w bonus. (At banks). The problem is growth at these places long term

[wgnwmhe]

presumably the NC State graduate are going to New York and Chicago... also 1st year investment banking analyst salary is...what 120 with sign on, plus eoy bonus, seems like you should make more than that

[elitecoder]

Yeah thanks for painting the picture for me .
I've been looking up at those figures at HRT and Jane's street and I thought those were really unrealistic

[LuffyGearSecond]

Hi Dimitri, congratulations on your channel, the videos are really interesting. I have a question, what do you think about the CQF? Is it comparable to a MSc in financial math/engineering? I am asking because I work in an economic scenario generator, where we calibrate financial models and simulate risk neutral scenarios, used for pricing and market consistent valuations. Because I do not have a pure Quant background, I was considering to expand my knowledge to land a job in a quantitative asset management role in the future and wanted to know your thoughts. Thanks!

[Paivren]

Hi Dimitri, are you doing personal mentoring as well? Like a 1on1 session where you review the background/CV and give tipps on what to do to break in? How much do you take for this?