Whats a Quant and How Do I Become One?
A few weeks ago I was talking with the superintendent of my apartment building. He was telling me how proud he was of his son. The young man had worked hard, graduated from a good university, and found a great-paying job on Wall Street. “He’s a quant,” the man said, sounding confused. “I don’t know. It’s something with computers. Do you know what this is? This quant?” “Yes,” I said. “I do…sort of.” The Life of Quants Quant is the shortened, geeky, silly-sounding title for someone with a decidedly un-silly job — a quantitative analyst. Quants are numbers experts who perform risk analysis related to investments. Quants tend to come from the world of physics and mathematics. And they use their number-crunching ability to create risk-management models that can be used to reach investment decisions. The working life of a quant is both difficult and lucrative. Salaries start at around $100,000 a year and bonuses are common. But quants work exceedingly long hours — 10- and 12-hour days ar
