Getting a Job in a Top Tier Quant Hedge Fund

Re:Getting a Job in a Top Tier Quant Hedge Fund by vijucat on Wednesday September 11, 2013 @02:04PM (#6368801)

Blaming quants for the economic crisis is like blaming programmers for the 2001 tech bubble. In both cases, there's a decision maker to whom the quant/programmer reports, an executive who decides which boat the company wants to float. The engineer's role is just to inform his/her manager that, "Uh, boss, this boat will probably sink. We shouldn't be claiming otherwise". The manager's response in both cases was to say, "Shut up and do your job, we'll go to IPO with just a business plan / we'll sell so many CDOs just the commission is going to make us millionaires. Fuck consequences". If you want to blame someone, I believe you need to look at the executives who took the decisions. This meme of "the quants did it" is a bit ridiculous, and it irritates me because it successfully removes attention from the real culprits.

Be honest : you have never worked on Wall Street. This is just some opinion that you picked up from your favourite newspaper or conspiracy web site.

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Re:Getting a Job in a Top Tier Quant Hedge Fund by lutusp on Wednesday September 11, 2013 @03:51PM (#6369557)

> Blaming quants for the economic crisis is like blaming programmers for the 2001 tech bubble.

I should have blamed trust in quantitative analysis. That would have been more fair, and it was the point I was trying to make. My shorthand way of saying it may have given the impression that I was speaking of the analysts, not the idea of analysis.

> Be honest : you have never worked on Wall Street.

Be honest -- where I have worked isn't the topic. And if I had worked on Wall Street, that would represent a much better justification for doubting the merit of my views.

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