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PhD and career

Experiences of my. PhD and career. in Quantitative Analytics. Gordon White Merrill Lynch. ...my background. Sep ‘06: Completed my PhD. My research was in applied mathematics: Theoretical fluid mechanics with application to the printing industry

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PhD and career

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  1. Experiences of my PhD and career in Quantitative Analytics Gordon White Merrill Lynch

  2. ...my background • Sep ‘06: Completed my PhD. My research was in applied mathematics: • Theoretical fluid mechanics with application to the printing industry • Feb ‘07: Started internship at Merrill Lynch on the complex interest rate options (CIRO) desk • Sep ‘07: Joined CIRO desk at Merrill Lynch

  3. ...why a PhD? • My reasons: • I wanted to learn more • Prove to myself I could • No career ambitions (at that time!) • Only with hindsight: • ...do I appreciate the real importance of a PhD for my career

  4. ...my PhD experience • The immediate benefits: • Many learning opportunities • Travel (Australia, Japan, Russia, etc) • Every PhD is different • A PhD is a collaborative effort between you and your supervisor(s). The extent of this collaboration varies a lot!

  5. ...the real importance of a PhD • A PhD demonstrates that you are: • Capable of independent research, • Capable of learning by yourself • A PhD provides opportunities to learn valuable analytical skills

  6. ...why my career? • I was curious: • Many friends had taken jobs in the City • Head-hunters had approached me during my PhD • I decided to learn more by: • Speaking to friends • Attending careers fairs • Reading books (e.g “Financial Calculus” by Baxter & Rennie)

  7. ...why this career? • I concluded that it would be a stimulating career... • Interesting problems in mathematics, finance & software engineering • Many learning opportunities • Intelligent and enthusiastic colleagues • Travel opportunities

  8. ...what is the job all about? • Traders design and trade the financial products sold to companies • Quantitative analysts develop the models (and the software!) used by the traders to price these financial products

  9. ...what is the job all about? • Most quantitative analysts work in teams to develop and maintain software libraries used for pricing • Day-to-day quant work involves: • Technical support for the traders • Developing new pricing models and improving existing ones • Implementation of the models • Debugging

  10. ..what is the job all about? • Quantitative analysts need to be skilled at: • Mathematical modelling and mathematical finance • Numerical methods for solving PDEs and SDEs • Programming (C++ & visual basic) • Communicating ideas • People with these skills are hard to find

  11. Thank you If you have any questions, just ask!

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