90L Cash Salary at 22
There was a recent post by a quant, however they were not verified and most questions went unanswered. Hence wanted to create this post more dense with information (mods can please verify me).
About me, graduating in 1 month, from a top 7 college in CS. Will be joining a top Indian HFT (Graviton/NK Securities/Quadeye) as a QR next month with first year compensation around 90L all cash. I converted my intern last summer (5LPM stipend).
Here are some FAQ. (None of this was written/polished by AI)
Can I get Quant - Read . There are a lot of different types of Quant roles, some easier to get than others. However in general conversation most people are referring to the flagship Quant Researcher/Trader/Developer roles in top firms. What I'm saying next applies to them. To get into these roles from India, you almost always need an undergraduate degree from a top 10, (at max top 15) college with good branch, cgpa, skills. Exceptions are extremely rare. A few more points
- For Master (not dual degree) /PhD students from tier 1 Indian college, unfortunately it is almost impossible to break in as these roles simply don't open up.
- Applying laterally is probably harder than getting in straight from college. Though Quant Developer is usually more possible than Quant Researcher/Trader.
- Things change if you study abroad. I don't know much about it.
- Many Indian firms also have different non quant developer roles as well. Some top firms even go to tier 3 colleges for hiring for these roles. Pay is lower. Whether it is worth joining such roles really depends on a case to case basis based on a tradeoff between stability, WLB and pay.
- Codeforces does help in standing out, but I don't think firms will consider a master from a tier 3 college. There is too much cheating nowadays. For this reason, ICPC performance after qualifying regionals is a slightly stronger signal.
- IICPC is newer, a serious candidate should look into it. Many firms do give out interviews to top rankers there.
- For Interview Prep, Read (post is tailored to QR/QT). In India most QR/QT firms ask probability/brain teasers/CP. For QD, you need C++, OSN, CP. You do not need to be >=CM on CF to clear the interview. Most are not.
Preferably ask questions in comments and not DMs.