r/crackquanttrading

Lots of people ask me why their applications feel like they're being sent into a black pit, a void that swallows up everything they throw inside.

This question has always struck me as strange. Those asking are clearly intelligent, but they're just not positioned correctly. I've looked over so many resumes that I know within 10 seconds if you're going to get a chance, or get swallowed by the void.

So instead of just stopping at creating a preparation platform, I've expanded it with a recruitment arm. Why? Because I'm actually interested in getting people placed, not just providing them with prep material and telling them 'Good luck!'.

Those who meet basic qualifications on getcracked.io can apply for our recruitment service; a fast-pass straight to the top of the resume pile, with interviews booked for you by stellar recruiters who specialize in quant. They're literally paid to get you a job, and will support your development from the first interview.

This service will be put on steroids when I launch getcracked Elite, our quant placement accelerator.

So why are you bothering to look elsewhere? You're going to pay whether you sign up or not. The only question is whether you prefer to pay with time, tears, and missed opportunities, or with a couple dollars.

Well...

The answer is never. That's about it. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

No, seriously. Never.

What does never really mean, though?

An interview isn't always a concrete checklist (it should be, but it isn't). You can prepare as long as you'd want, try your hardest, and things still just don't work out for you.

Maybe the issue really is you (e.g. that implementation problem you skipped on getcracked.io just so happened to be asked).

Maybe what was not in your control played, and worked against you (e.g. your interviewer stubbed their toe the moment they entered the conference room, causing them to be moody throughout the whole interview).

Regardless, you're never really ready - there's always more to know, and more ground to cover.

But, I'm not going to leave you with a throw-your-hands-up-in-the-air-and-give-up-type of answer.

While you can never truly know with certainty, you can get a better sense of where you stand (which is critical).

There are a couple of things you can do to get a better gauge:

1. Interview slowly. This means applying in a drip-feed like fashion. Doing so will allow you to keep some dry-powder, getting feedback along the journey and adjusting your approach.
2. Get your resume reviewed by an actual professional in the industry you want to work in, not some random on Reddit. We offer coaching services for exactly that.
3. Assess your resume response rate. If you're hearing back from 1 in every 10 firms, that's a bad sign. When I applied as a Sr Quant Dev, I heard back from around 80% of firms (meaning they wanted to move forward with at least an HR-call).
4. Ask for feedback. Not everyone will give it to you, but if they do, it'll inform you as to why you aren't currently ready. There's no better feedback on why you didn't make it than the people who told you that you didn't make it.

Hope this is helpful.

Let me know if you have any questions!

hey everyone!

i have been interested in the quant space ever since I did a minor in finance last year alongside cs as my major. I started to apply for quant roles and preparing for interviews when I bumped into a problem - I could not find any ‘leetcode’ for quant finance where you could practice math questions, practice mm games, probability and everything needed for a quant interview.

with my cs background, i decided to fill the gap and build it myself. that is how NeetQuant was created neet-quant.com. it has a growing question bank of 600+ questions spread across probability, EV, conditional probability, combinatorics, statistics, random variables, linear algebra, stochastic processes, finance & derivatives, brainteasers, programming/DSA, market making & betting games and more. it also has an Optiver’s Beat the Odds inspired online assessment simulator which gives you 90s for each probability focused mcq. you can configure the difficulty and also amount of questions for each practice run. it also has a market making timed game, kelly betting simulator, fair or rigged?, take the bet? (quick fire EV estimation) and more. every game is configurable and random seeded so you can play it many times and each is different. 

it has really become a passion project for me and I am actively working on it and expanding it week by week. I would love to get an opinion on the website - what you think of it overall and if you consider it helpful for interview prep. also feel free to share extension ideas, I am keen to hear feature ideas to implement.

thanks for feedback!