Considering Career Path: Statisticians/Big Data Scientists

[Mywifes335]

Originally Posted by BigDog

Bachelor - Physics
Masters 1 - Electrical Engineering
Masters 2 - Quantitative Finance
PhD - Quantitative Finance

Nice. Exactly what I was used to seeing for a quant - impressive. But you never know on the forums. You could have some daytrading hack calling himself a quant, haha.

What firm did you develop strategies for? I was once an equity research analyst for IBs. At the tail end, I worked for a boutique that provided deep value algorithms.

[BigDog]

Originally Posted by Mywifes335

Nice. Exactly what I was used to seeing for a quant - impressive. But you never know on the forums. You could have some daytrading hack calling himself a quant, haha.

What firm did you develop strategies for? I was once an equity research analyst for IBs. At the tail end, I worked for a boutique that provided deep value algorithms.

Started out doing market making on ETFs from 2007-2012, some of the best yrs ever for HFT, moved to fixed income from 2012-2015 trading TED spreads across the yield curve, along with some market making on ICE (nat gas futs)....

2015 wife had enough of my lifestyle and hours :P... though the money was phenomenal, I missed out on all family events, almost had no friends, etc. just trade trade trade.... it's like I tell others... every trader has a shelf life

[Mywifes335]

Originally Posted by BigDog

Started out doing market making on ETFs from 2007-2012, some of the best yrs ever for HFT, moved to fixed income from 2012-2015 trading TED spreads across the yield curve, along with some market making on ICE (nat gas futs)....

2015 wife had enough of my lifestyle and hours :P... though the money was phenomenal, I missed out on all family events, almost had no friends, etc. just trade trade trade.... it's like I tell others... every trader has a shelf life

Same. All my friends were coworkers and clients, lol. No workless weekends. My wife had enough too. But I just kept hitting the chopping block from 2010-2012. But started in the business in the analyst program at BofA in 2004. Did the startup thing for a few years - (2012-2014) like working for free. Now work in capital management for a fortune 100. Money is not even close. But time and benefits are so incredible. Well, fringe benefits were better on the Street.

What do you do in Big Data?

[BigDog]

Originally Posted by Mywifes335

Same. All my friends were coworkers and clients, lol. No workless weekends. My wife had enough too. But I just kept hitting the chopping block from 2010-2012. But started in the business in the analyst program at BofA in 2004. Did the startup thing for a few years - (2012-2014) like working for free. Now work in capital management for a fortune 100. Money is not even close. But time and benefits are so incredible. Well, fringe benefits were better on the Street.

What do you do in Big Data?

Risk management - model development, model validation, etc for CCAR/DFAST banks

LOL now I'm on the other side of the coin

[Mywifes335]

Originally Posted by BigDog

Risk management - model development, model validation, etc for CCAR/DFAST banks

LOL now I'm on the other side of the coin

Yeah, I had a couple chances to be a Finance Director, CFO, or IR Director while I was on the Street...should've jumped on those opptys then.

Work for a consulting firm or you a contractor?

[BigDog]

Originally Posted by Mywifes335

Yeah, I had a couple chances to be a Finance Director, CFO, or IR Director while I was on the Street...should've jumped on those opptys then.

Work for a consulting firm or you a contractor?

consulting firm, manage a team of about 20 recovering quants

[Mywifes335]

Originally Posted by BigDog

consulting firm, manage a team of about 20 recovering quants

That's friggin awesome.

[BigDog]

Originally Posted by Mywifes335

That's friggin awesome.

btw, I know this is TOTALLY off topic, but looks like my nephew will be going to TLC also. we took a look at Primrose (i think that's the name) in Berkely Heights, but they're just silly expensive for a 3yr old kid

[Mywifes335]

Originally Posted by BigDog

btw, I know this is TOTALLY off topic, but looks like my nephew will be going to TLC also. we took a look at Primrose (i think that's the name) in Berkely Heights, but they're just silly expensive for a 3yr old kid

TLC is a great school. It's not pretentious and they are structured enough to develop the kids positively from an emotional standpoint as well as social assimilation and academics. I highly recommend it. Plus, my wife is a public schoolteacher in that area and she thought TLC was top notch.

It's not the prettiest nor most prestigious, but it'll produce a loving, sharp toddler.

[BigDog]

Originally Posted by Mywifes335

TLC is a great school. It's not pretentious and they are structured enough to develop the kids positively from an emotional standpoint as well as social assimilation and academics. I highly recommend it. Plus, my wife is a public schoolteacher in that area and she thought TLC was top notch.

It's not the prettiest or most prestigious, but it'll produce a loving, sharp toddler.

woah wait, you still live in the Central Jersey area?

[Mywifes335]

Originally Posted by BigDog

woah wait, you still live in the Central Jersey area?

Complicated. I'm in DFW for work but family still in NJ. They're moving out there next year.

[Arsonism]

I don't want to call y'all out but, damn that was a derail haha. Can't say that I'm not reluctant to hear that there's other folks out there. I don't want to break up y'alls conversation because there's interesting facts in them, like lifestyles and personalities to consider as well. That's something that I actually like to evaluate almost as much as the knowledge that I would be pursuing.

I think the biggest question was job security with machines like IBMs Watson (which I thought was a clever name) and other very sophisticated algorithms that can just run at the click of a button and some various input points. I can't say I speak enough for the field and that's why I came to y'all. Your background BigDog is very interesting, I'd ask you why you wanted to go through Electrical Engineering (that's where my undergraduate started out) and I also considered a life in Physics through my undergraduate as well [however the backing for my college lifestyle was threatening me if I went into something like physics and I didn't have a plan for life after undergraduate at the time].

The original concerns have been satiated with a few articles that I was able to dig up, the industry seems as though it will have a very significant place in the future. The other concerns was if you needed programming or language logic skills to also provide a useful tool set for the industry. I wouldn't be shy to getting an associates or something similar in computer programming just to get more certified learning of coding under my belt... hell I did four years with Java and Python when I was in high school through a community college, might as well figure something with all of that. I know I have the mind for it, just didn't have the drive back then.

I've started looking into the Actuary career path that was mentioned earlier and the salaries do look extremely lucrative and seems to be rewarding. However, that's really where I look to question that field is what would become rewarding from that work? I realize the salary is one thing, but are there definitive accomplishments that are attainable through that line of work? That's actually a huge selling point for me. Successfully completing programs and various other accomplishments give me more motivation and end up challenging me in a workplace, that's an environment I enjoy but it isn't crucial. It just so happens the knowledge/skills/expertise that I may be chasing after all happens to be lucrative as well. It can't hurt right?

I know I'll come up with some more questions, and y'all are welcome to continue your reunion, I just figured I'd butt in and pick someone's mind again.

[Mywifes335]

Originally Posted by BigDog

woah wait, you still live in the Central Jersey area?

Wait, do we know each other IRL?

[Mywifes335]

Sorry Shane, lol. Good luck in your endeavors. Big data is definitely worth investigating.

[BigDog]

Originally Posted by Arsonism

I don't want to call y'all out but, damn that was a derail haha. Can't say that I'm not reluctant to hear that there's other folks out there. I don't want to break up y'alls conversation because there's interesting facts in them, like lifestyles and personalities to consider as well. That's something that I actually like to evaluate almost as much as the knowledge that I would be pursuing.

I think the biggest question was job security with machines like IBMs Watson (which I thought was a clever name) and other very sophisticated algorithms that can just run at the click of a button and some various input points. I can't say I speak enough for the field and that's why I came to y'all. Your background BigDog is very interesting, I'd ask you why you wanted to go through Electrical Engineering (that's where my undergraduate started out) and I also considered a life in Physics through my undergraduate as well [however the backing for my college lifestyle was threatening me if I went into something like physics and I didn't have a plan for life after undergraduate at the time].

So the past 15 years in a nutshell... I started out in Physics since everyone in my family was an EE (grew up a stones throw away from what was Bell Labs) As I was finishing up undergrad, my main interest was in optical communication, so the transition to EE for my first masters. During this time period I did my thesis on silicon germanium nanowires and optimum growth patterns. As I was finishing up my masters, I became a bit disenchanted with EE and decided to go work rather than do a PhD.

I moved to Florida, and started working at a defense contractor building 5000lb warheads for about two years. During this time I started investing and managing money on my own, and realized I could make much more money in finance than being an engineer at a defense contractor....

I re-enrolled in school again in Chicago to study quantitative finance. While doing my 2nd masters, I got my first job as a jr quant trader, and moved up the ranks through the years until I was running my own desk. At the same time I was also finishing up my studies, and did finally do that phd.

In 2015, I pretty much hit my expiration date as a trader. My wife had it with me being up at all hours of the night, having everything boil down to "screw, i'll just put on more risk", etc etc. Chasing greed gets a bit poisonous...

Left the trading industry, wife wanted to leave the Chicago area all together after basically dedicating a good 8 years to support me in trading.... so she had her sights set on the Bay Area, and here we are now.

Now I keep myself out of trouble doing risk management for CCAR/DFAST banks as I mentioned above, and the new focus is on starting a family, with work being more of a tangential activity rather than the main one. Sure compensation wise it doesn't compare to my previous life, but the mental peace is more than worth it.

[Arsonism]

The "mental peace" is a curious thing to me with Actuary and other statistical roles. It sounds like you're able to take it a little easier at this role opposed to others and I don't know that I'll be going into financials (that's more my brothers cup of tea). I wonder how much stress the job will lend and what will be worth it at the other side of the tunnel. It sounds as though (although your background is much more extensive) that with that kind of background one would have a decent amount of options, and that is appealing. I'm afraid sometimes that there are too many options from any given degree plan and because of that there may not be specific jobs that I could get my feet under without first having some experience which may or may not be attainable.

That is quite the lifetime I'd have to say. Mine will look something similar but with a crap ton more of military involvement inbetween haha. Glad to see some eclectic choices still function well in the modern world opposed to straight track folks.

[Xtabi]

Big Data is the field to be in and will be for a long while. My wife is in it and had her pick of jobs. She was offered two different roles the last time she was promoted while at the same time another company was trying to recruit her.

She has a BS in Marketing and a minor in Decision Sciences - Business Statistics and a MBA.

I work on the leading edge of the cloud and luckily was able to help steer her in her career decision process. As I could see the shift the rest of the world was about to see before it blew up. It really worked out well for her and her career.

Best of luck! There are a lot of great things businesses can take advantage of in this space. The results will greatly depend on the talent of the ones synthesizing the data for consumption...

[Arsonism]

If anyone is interested in this, I've gained not only some industry insight and held a few positions surrounding it, but also have recently completed my MS in Data Science.

I have to say it was a ton of fun and came with a number of challenges. I moved several times, got married, have a kid on the way and various other life events and changes that are ongoing. Moreover, I'm happy that I came to this field and gained the accomplishments I had.

I only revived this thread from a recent respect that came hit my alerts, I figured it was time to post an update!

Cheers everyone.

[upstatedoc]

Epic update.

[Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by Arsonism

I had not actually realized that my aunt has been doing this for nearly her entire career. They mentioned quite a few exams to pass and whatnot but overall that she was happy with where she wound up. I will be giving her a call here in the near future to discover more about it. I'll dig deeper into it, this was not something that I had previously considered and I thank you both for the suggestion! (If you have any tips/tricks or even ways to gateway oneself into that profession, I would also be interested in the pre-requisites that would allow me to be considered for such a career path however I'll do some research tomorrow as I'm burning the midnight oils tonight).

There is quite a lot of variability between the fields of work and even between companies sometimes. All it takes to get in the door is passing an exam or two and interviewing well.

Feel free to PM me if you have questions, I work on the life & annuity side of things.