A weird interaction during an interview
Hey everyone, I’m an aspiring quants. Mods I understand that there is a mega threat for questions regarding general advice when it comes to education hiring etc but I have a separate unique question to the situation I found myself in.
I’ve been applying for jobs at let’s say middle office level at quant firms, and been successful in getting interviews and moving through the stages. Not got to offer stage yet anywhere but at the moment I’m in the process at HRT, Optiver and Quadrature.
I don’t have a degree. I have a background in data and building models and algos at retail banks in fraud detection etc. I have always wanted to be a quant but my barrier has always been the degree itself. I can’t fund the degree myself (uk degrees are abhorrently expensive).
During an interview at Optiver, the hiring manager asked me directly why I seem to be applying for a trading analyst role and not a front office quant role directly. I’ve taken part in IMC prosperity 4, as well as WorldQuant comps.
My answer was about the barrier to entry, and from there his reaction as well as the other interviews reaction and their demeanour in general became weird. Almost like an inquisitive but reserved way.
My question is, why ask that when it is evident that my lack of degree prevents me from getting a quant role, and then would this affect my chances of being successful in the interview, and if so should I refrain from mentioning my quant aspirations in the future ?
Sorry for the long post
TLDR; applying for quant adjacent roles as no maths degree, specifically was asked by Optiver why I didn’t apply directly for a quant role as opposed to a middle office role. My honesty may have worked against me.