In 2023, at the age of 14, American-Bangladeshi teenager Kairan Quazi impressed Elon Musk with his exceptional talent who then appointed him as an engineer at SpaceX. Now, at the age of 16, Quazi has quit
his job at SpaceX and moved on to Citadel Securities, where he will work as a quant developer where he will collaborate with traders and engineers.
What exactly does a quant developer do? If you have a passion for mathematical models, Excel macros, and programming, a career as a quant developer can be very rewarding.
Also know as quantitative developers and quantitative software engineers, they specialise in creating, implementing, and maintaining quantitative models. They typically collaborate with quantitative analysts on the research side and software engineers on the technology side within investment banks, hedge funds, and other financial firms.
The responsibilities of quant developers include developing and maintaining programming libraries, creating numerical library components, performance tuning these libraries, and advising on high-performance computing initiatives, optimisation, and strategy.
Eligibility Criteria Of A Quant Developer
To be eligible, one generally needs a degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Financial Engineering, or a related field. They are skilled programmers, proficient in languages such as Python, C, C++, C#, and Java, and use mathematical and statistical software packages like MATLAB, R, or SAS. Any computer science engineer is well-equipped to enter the quantitative finance and trading field.
Quantitative developers are currently in high demand within investment banks, asset management firms, hedge funds, and other sectors of the financial industry. Due to the extensive knowledge required in programming, mathematics, and finance, there is a shortage of qualified professionals for these roles. Moreover, as firms increasingly adopt machine learning and data science, the demand for quant developers with expertise in AI, machine learning, handling large datasets, and alternative data is rising.
