u/cat_named_zola

I work as a qr on rates desk. And my day to day work is pretty non collaborative. I talk to traders and senior quants like once a week, and that too mostly for progress update and if there are any clarifications I need.

Overall, I work on the project alone. Researching stuff, reading papers, prompting ai, writing code, raising pr etc.

Once the entire lifecycle of a project is complete and then traders look at the result and If all good, we deploy else reiterate.

I feel like doing wfh and wfo literally has no difference. I am not learning anything new from my colleagues or manager etc. My manager just assigns the project and tells why we need to do it, but that's all.

I wanted to know if this is the norm across other firms as well for qr/qd ? I was under the assumption that I will be learning a lot from traders and other quants only because of being in their presence and from their conversations.

Hii all,

I have a picture of my mother and me which I really like. She passed away to cancer 9 years ago. Until now, I mostly looked at her in my phone gallery whenever I remembered her. I didn't have any physical photos of her in my room or anywhere. I didn't want others to know.

But now I feel more comfortable sharing about her or her death to others if they ask. So I want to put a photo frame in my room of my favourite photo with her.

My question is should I crop myself out and just keep her photo or should I let both of us be together in the photo and frame that ? I am sorry if this is a silly question

Heyy..

So I had to cancel an intl. flight ticket with virgin. And it was an economy ticket worth 600$.
I know as per T&C, it says non-refundable and I don't have a right to get a refund.

However, I was wondering if there is a way after some pleading and begging, they might refund. I am a student, so 600$ is kind of a lot for me. If anyone has any advice, please let me know.

I already raised a refund request. Talked with customer rep, they said I might get back like 20$.

And an fyi, my return ticket was with american airlines. And I am so grateful to american, they returned the entire amount within 3 days without a single dollar charged, even though this too was non-refundable. But virgin guys don't seem be so generous.

Thanksss

For as long as I can remember, the dark and gloomy cloud of loneliness has always been at an arm's distance from my conscience. Over the years, I have realised that it's not the primary feeling, but an add on over the primary feeling. I have found myself feeling lonely when I was sad and angry, and even when I was happy and jubilant. I have found myself lonely when I am alone, and when I am with people. I felt lonely when I was poorer, and equally if not more when I am richer. I was lonely when I was younger, and even now when I am older.

When I look at the past, I look through the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia and find myself appreciating and missing the past. I find myself much more lonelier in the present, even though objectively I am doing better in all other life's parameters, be it career, money or relationships. Still, I yearn for the past, when I didn't feel lonely. But the truth is my past was just as much plagued by loneliness as present if not more so. I just choose to remember the good highlights and not the daily drudgery which was as common in the past as it is in the present.

When I was very young and struggling (at least what I am told, it didn't feel like a struggle then) in a low income family in a not so good neighbourhood, I was told with better education, better career, life offers you many prizes. I assumed deliverance from my loneliness would be one of those prizes. It made sense then. Once I did all that, I found myself still feeling the same, just in a much better living condition. I turned towards relationships, sex, alcohol, as they too had a strong promise for freedom from loneliness. And they did work, for a while. For a while, I could sense the cloud of loneliness dissipating when I am drunk and in someone's arms. But my senses were wrong, they didn't go away. It was just that the new experiences made me forget myself for a moment. How would life be if our feelings were not so fleeting, but rather more sustained. Then, ambition presented itself as another choice which could ease my loneliness. I stayed busy, preparing for my climb, worked towards it and eventually climbed. And the feelings of loneliness returned when I had taken barely a few breaths at the peak. Now I feel lonely in an even better house, with more money, and more freedom.

I did turn to books as well, philosophy, psychoanalysis, reading from kierkeggard to Jung to rank. Thinking that if I find the root cause, then maybe I will find an answer. But after this exercise over the years, I have only come up with more questions than answers.

What I have understood about loneliness is that it's the default setting for human existence. If one confronts the bare existence of oneself, the complete autonomy and freedom of an individual in this vast cosmos, feeling lonely is the least among the terrifying alternatives. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't torture me. Gaining some sort of deep understanding about something doesn't spare me from the repercussions of it. As I imagine the life ahead of me, I imagine the cloud getting bigger and heavier. But a consolation is that I have learnt to live with it.

Hey all,

I am currently on my opt, expiring on 4th Jan 2027. I am going out of states in Sept and returning back on Sept 17th.

As per the new rule, will my admit until date on i94 will change to my ead end date ? And will I have to submit an extension of stay document when filing for stem opt ?

Hey all,

I am currently on my opt, expiring on 4th Jan 2027. I am going out of states in Sept and returning back on Sept 17th.

As per the new rule, will my admit until date on i94 will change to my ead end date ? And will I have to submit an extension of stay document when filing for stem opt ?

I might have a very unusual background for someone applying for a phd in economics. Thus, I wanted to check if it's even possible.

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1. Undergrad in Electrical engineering. (Top 5) 3.6 gpa

2. Then worked for 5 years as a software engineer in finance - 3 years with an asset management and then 2 years at an hft

3. Then did a masters in applied maths (Top 5) 3.7 gpa

4. Working as a quant researcher in fixed income space at a hedge fund for 2 years now.

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I am 30.

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The reason I want to do an economics phd is because I want to work in policy making, for govt or think tanks. I do not see myself spending next 25-30 years of my life in the current career trajectory.

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I do not have economics specific background, other than my own readings of macro economics which is needed at my work currently.

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I guess it's unlikely that I will even be considered anywhere, but I just wanted to check once.

Is there a way to go into economics driven policy making without doing an economics phd ?

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Thanks a ton.

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(when I say "man", I mean both man and woman)

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All the issues man faces today is because man can't reconcile the fact that he is going to die. He can't reconcile his mind with his body. The mind is eternal and infinite, whereas the body is finite and limited. From an early age, we are conditioned to believe to not think about death consciously. Death is something which happens to others. We will figure out a way. Or it's something so far away that we don't need to worry about it. Maybe it will never come. But at the same time, the body keeps giving us signals every day, only if we listen. Our heart beating, our arteries and veins transporting, our anus excreting waste, and our lungs absorbing oxygen. Our mind blocks this stuff and makes us believe that it will keep going on.

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Existence is like an onion. At the centre, there is life and death, closely coupled together. And then there are several layers. Each layer kept on building from the center and because of it. In the early age, man fought against death through several means and kept on building layers. The first layer is foraging, hunting and reproduction. Then the second layer is tribalism, family, and marriage. The third layer is agriculture, trade and weapons. Then came economics, and entertainment. And so on and so forth. But now the modern man is so far away from the center, that he doesn't even realise that there is a center. The 100th layer is how do I walk or eat or sit so that it looks cool or something even more absurd.

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Our mind gets conditioned to protect us against the thought of death by building what we call "personality" in colloquial terms. We all have personalities, we want to be part of the group as it provides us security, we fall in love, we fight wars, we work routine jobs, we become part of society. All of this is a natural result of our fear of death. If man faces death upfront and in the face, he will realise that he has unlimited possibilities and infinite freedom. And we are absolutely afraid of absolute freedom. Man can't survive uninhibited total freedom, he will die. So to fight against death, he becomes a slave to his carefully conditioned character traits.

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However, all is not in vain. There is a way. If man observes the reality for what it is and realises that death is as real as life, then he can live life in a way which is compatible to his real self. He observes and notices, he contemplates. He will have to break free of his character conditioning, he will have to die and be born again, a rebirth.

Hey all.

I have done my graduate studies in the US in applied maths. And I currently work as a quant in NY. I have always had a plan to return back and even now I have the plan and I save accordingly.

However, one thing which keeps bothering me is the opportunity cost of the field which I am in. Even in the US, only NY and Chicago primarily have the companies where I could work. And in India, only Mumbai. But 80% of quant roles in India are engineering and c++ roles, whereas I mostly do 70% maths in my day to day job. And even then for every one opportunity in Mumbai, there are like 100 in NY.

This makes me a little worried about my long term career. And since I like the work I do, I see myself staying in this field for a long time. I don't mind the pay difference or ppp etc, I would like to continue doing the same quality of work.

One option I see is either Singapore or HK.

For people who have had a similar conundrum, how did you come to a decision?

Hey all.

I am a quant on the sell side bank, currently as a vp on the fixed income desk.

I mostly work with calibration and pricing of fixed income derivatives products. I have a background in applied maths, primarily numerical methods.

I have done a short stint of 1.5 years on the buy side as swe/qd before going to grad school.

Overall I am happy with my domain and work, and I can see myself building a long term career in this space. Pay is not that great (compared to the buy side), but it's not bad either.

I am curious to know about different long term career options which I have. One path which I currently see is what my seniors have done at the bank, climb the corporate ladder to ED, then MD and command more responsibility of the rates business which bank does.

What other alternative options are there ? Is there an option to switch to buy side (do buy side firms even trade fixed income products and if they do, do they price them on their own)? Or maybe go and work for imf, world bank in some capacity? Any other career paths you have seen people take? I would love to hear from senior folks.

Thanks a ton.

Hey all.

I am a quant working on the sell side in NY. I mostly do modeling and pricing for fixed income products and derivatives.

Structured notes are a big business in the US, and even more popular in other countries like Japan, UK, Brazil etc. since everyone wants exposure to credit markets of US.

As far as I know, (pls correct me if I am wrong), currently sebi+rbi doesn't allow structured notes investments for Indian clients, mainly because they don't want rupees going out and having US credit risk.

I wanted to know if this community has an idea on any progress on this front or any alternative products which Indian quant firms are developing?

Thanks.