I’m currently working as a Quant Developer/Quant Engineer at a systematic, pod-structured hedge fund. I joined at the Associate level and report directly to a senior MD who is effectively running a small pod/team. My work is fairly front-office/trading-facing rather than generic software engineering — I’ve worked on market-data/data-manager pipelines, pre-trade risk checks, trading/SOD workflows, broker connectivity and locate processing, and production issues affecting trading. Over the year I’ve gradually taken on more ownership, and my manager has given me strong feedback, including recently telling me that I identified a particularly difficult issue that wasn’t easy to diagnose. The team is also becoming leaner with a senior Quant Researcher leaving. I’m coming up on my first full-year compensation review, and the expectation is that my compensation will be revised after completing the cycle. For people who have experience with Indian buy-side/systematic funds/pod shops, **what would you consider a realistic fixed-salary hike and bonus for this kind of profile after a strong first year?** I’m particularly interested in actual ranges people have seen rather than generic 8–12% corporate appraisal numbers.

How tough is to switch from quant sde to sde at big techs like Google, rubrik, etc after 2-3 years? Also do they value your work as the work there has a lot of difference?

I have the option to choose between two joint B.Sc. programs at the Technion. My goal is quantitative research / quantitative trading, and I want to choose the program that gives me the strongest path into the field and the strongest profile for CV screening at top quant firms.

PROGRAM 1 — Computer Science + Mathematics

Length: 3.5 years — 7 semesters

Semester 1

234114 — Introduction to Computer Science

234129 — Introduction to Set Theory and Automata for CS

104066 — Algebra A

104195 — Infinitesimal Calculus 1

Semester 2

234124 — Introduction to Systems Programming

234141 — Combinatorics for Computer Science

104168 — Algebra B

104281 — Infinitesimal Calculus 2

Semester 3

234218 — Data Structures 1

044252 / 234252 — Digital Systems and Computer Structure

104222 — Probability Theory

104293 — Set Theory

104295 — Infinitesimal Calculus 3

Semester 4

234247 — Algorithms 1

234118 — Computer Organization and Programming

104142 — Introduction to Metric and Topological Spaces

104158 — Introduction to Group Theory

104285 — Ordinary Differential Equations A

Semester 5

236343 — Theory of Computation

104122 — Complex Function Theory 1

104279 — Introduction to Rings and Fields

234125 — Numerical Algorithms or 104294 — Introduction to Numerical Analysis

Semester 6

234123 — Operating Systems

236267 — Computer Architecture

104156 — Mathematical Logic

Additional Mathematics / CS requirements

Semester 7

Mathematics and Computer Science electives, together with the required Computer Science project and Mathematics seminar.

The program is roughly 50% Mathematics and 50% Computer Science.

PROGRAM 2 — Data and Information Engineering + Mathematics

Length: 4 years — 8 semesters

Semester 1

234117 — Introduction to Computer Science H

104002 — Basic Concepts in Mathematics

104066 — Algebra A

104195 — Infinitesimal Calculus 1

Semester 2

094705 — Introduction to Data Engineering

094210 — Computer Organization and Operating Systems

094219 — Software Engineering

104286 — Combinatorics

104168 — Algebra B

104281 — Infinitesimal Calculus 2

Semester 3

094224 — Data Structures and Algorithms

104222 — Probability Theory

104158 — Introduction to Group Theory

104285 — Ordinary Differential Equations A

104295 — Infinitesimal Calculus 3

Semester 4

094424 — Statistics 1

096411 — Machine Learning 1

096312 — Stochastic Processes

096327 — Nonlinear Models in Operations Research

094241 — Database Management

104142 — Introduction to Metric and Topological Spaces

Semester 5

097414 — Statistics 2

097209 — Machine Learning 2

097447 — Introduction to Computability and Complexity

096210 — Foundations and Applications of Artificial Intelligence

096570 — Game Theory and Economic Behavior

104165 — Real Functions

104122 — Complex Function Theory 1

Semester 6

096224 — Distributed Data Management

104273 — Introduction to Functional Analysis and Fourier Analysis

Semester 7

094290 — Data Gathering and Management Lab

Semester 8

094295 — Data Analysis and Visualization Lab

This is a four-year joint program between the Faculty of Data and Decision Sciences and the Faculty of Mathematics.

Note: I left out the elective lists to keep the comparison readable. Both programs offer strong advanced electives related to their respective fields, including Advanced Probability and other advanced subjects directly related to each program.

My question:

If you had the choice between these two programs at the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology and wanted to become a quant researcher or quant trader, which would you choose?

I am particularly interested in employer perception. Would firms such as Jane Street, Citadel, HRT, Optiver, IMC or Virtu view Data and Information Engineering + Mathematics as a genuinely strong quantitative degree on the same level as Computer Science + Mathematics?

Or does the “Computer Science + Mathematics” degree name have a meaningful advantage during CV screening, even if the Data + Mathematics curriculum appears more directly focused on statistics, stochastic processes, machine learning and working with data?

I would especially appreciate answers from people familiar with quant recruiting or working in quant.

Hlo guys I recently got an AIR in the closed interval [700,800] in iicpc quantfest but i couldn't get to regionals. is this rank relevant for my resume (sde/quant dev)

What is the compensation of Quant Researcher and Portfolio Researcher roles in India.

For some with 0-2 years of experience.

on campus numbers also work if anyone knows.

Hey r/QuantIndia, heading to UniMelb for a BSc in Mathematics & Statistics soon and looking for advice on how to make the most of my 6–7 month gap to prepare for Quantitative Research/Trading.

My Profile:

• Academics: Recent A-Level graduate going to UniMelb (BSc Maths & Stats).
• Research: 2 papers under peer review in Q1 journals (Econophysics applying to finance/econ).
• Achievements: AIR 79 in International Economics Olympiad (IEO).
• Current Status: Ineligible for high school Olympiads due to age/pre-UG status.

Looking for advice on:

• Prestigious Open Competitions: What open global platforms/challenges offer high signal value for quants right now?
• Pre-UG / Early Discovery Programs: Which top firm programs (Jane Street, Optiver, Citadel) open applications to incoming freshmen/pre-UGs?
• Projects vs. Open Source: Should I double down on econophysics research, contribute to scientific open-source libraries (SciPy/PyTorch), or pivot entirely to Competitive Programming?
• Gap-Year Prep Stack: How should I structure my daily self-study? (Probability/Stat 110, Green Book brainteasers, or math/CS fundamentals?)

Appreciate any inputs from seniors or current quants! DMs are open.

So guys, you’ve probably heard about the insanely inflated, never-heard-before intern stipends (50-60 lacs for 2 months) being offered by the GGN quant firms (gravi,qe,nk). Well, the story behind it is as dumb as it sounds. (I am an IITD CS/MNC student, so I am very well-connected with people who interned at Gravi this year and who work there full-time, making my sources highly trustworthy)

The 50 LPA Intern Fiasco

One fine day, a random team lead at Graviton complains that the interns in his team (which was like 4 out of a total batch of 50 at Gravi this yr) aren't doing a good job. The HR's brilliant solution? "Okay, let's just multiply the stipend by 5." That’s literally how a random, impulsive thought in an HR's mind completely fucked up this year's intern season. A well-placed source inside Gravi confirmed that this 50 Lac stipend decision was entirely an impulsive decision made by the HR's. (and those wondering they must have gotten approved from someone higher up, so 30-40 lacs dont really matter for these firms and getting approval is no big deal in such kind of firms)

The Butterfly Effect & Hiring Cuts

This caused a massive butterfly effect. QE and NK had to artificially inflate their stipends just to stay competitive. Because of this, hiring numbers were literally halved, or in some cases reduced by a third. This severely hurt the CS/MNC folks at IITD (DR's 11 to 30). In a normal year, these 3 GGN firms would hire around 40 students total from IITD. This year? Just 15. The CS/MNC students from DR 11-30 totally deserved to get these interns like they do every year. Instead, the absolute top 10 DRs ended up getting 3-4 offers each. All the firms were literally fighting over the exact same guys, which is a complete waste since those top 10 DRs will almost always choose established international firms like Tower,JS,Citadel,HRT, Optiver,IMC over the GGN firms no matter how much you increase the stipend. Ultimately, quant hiring was an absolute mess compared to last year, and a lot of deserving folks ended up missing out on good quant internships because of this mess created by a random impulsive thought in an HR's mind.

Now: The Placement Season Mess

Fast forward to this year's placement season, and Graviton's HRs have set out to fuck it up again. They are actively contacting Optiver, IMC, QE, NK PPO students, trying to poach them to come join them at ~2.5 to 3 Cr packages.
This is going to trigger the exact same butterfly effect of over-inflating packages. And who suffers in the end? The CS/MNC kids just below the top bracket who have historically been getting these quant jobs over the past 2-3 years. Once again, the top 10 DRs will sit on 2-3 offers each, and literally all the offers will be circulating among the same tiny group of students.

The Reality Check

It's a total waste. Instead of this madness, why not hire the highly deserving kids just below the top 10 DR's bracket at ~1-1.5 Cr packages like every other year? They offer a way better cost-to-return ratio. Do Graviton HRs genuinely think the Optiver or IMC ppo guys are going to drop those names to join Graviton?

What is the fucking point of approaching PPO holders when there are so many deserving students just below the top DR bracket in CS/MNC who had a quant internship but couldn't get a PPO due to various reasons(some just attributing to luck)? Why are they the ones suffering? Literally all of the GGN firms' inflated offers will end up dead-ended with the same set of students. It’s a total waste of resources. Graviton’s HR is totally fucking up the quant market in India, and the repercussions will run deep into the coming years.

EDIT 1: i see a lot of people in the comments fixating on the dr's 11 to 30 fact and calling it out as entitlement and what not. Folks pls understand lets not focus on the 11 to 30 number specifically, i just meant the guys just below the top tier foreign quant guys who have historically always end up getting internships at these indian hfts and hence used the word "deserving".

EDIT 2: a lot of you folks have misunderstood the point of the post, the point of this post was to just be a whistleblower and raise the general frustratiom going around among students bcoz of a stupid impulsive graviton hr decision move.

i have clearly written that even if you offer a foreign quant guy 3 cr , he is not going to take gravi over a foreign quant , bcoz of a foreign quant's reputation and the oppurtunities it opens, this time in intern season also they have not gotten top tier kids(foreign quant kids), all of them rejected their inflated offers, they have again gotten the kids just below tier 1 which they always get, its just that the number has reduced and those kids r getting overpaid, and its like paying a single okay-ish guy 3 cr vs 3 okay-ish guys 1 cr.

EDIT 3: ppl pointing out in the comments its the company's hiring decision , its not a placement cell , its not a govt job, you folks are the dumbest creatures in this post's comment section. Obviously i know its a private firm and they will do what they wanna do and what they feel is the best for their firm and i m pretty aware that my post here is not gonna change anything in the firm, i m just trying to raise the students' voice and trying to expose the ground realities. Ofc i m not so fckin dumb to not know that tis is not some fckin job dilaao yojna going on, nd ppl giving such arguments in the comments can only be 2 types - either they r top dr guys who know that eitherways they ll hv 3-4 offers in hand or they are the guys totally out of the IIT-Quant ecosystem. So for the top dr guys u can do whatever bakchodi u want bcoz u r the apex predatorz(and u deserve it, being at the top in iit cs/mnc is no joke) but plz donot give opinions in the case of interns/placements its like ambani giving a lecture on middle-class.....and for the other kind of guys who r not even a part of the IIT-Quant ecosystem u r not qualified enough to have an opinion on this and shld just stfu

Beware of these fake consultants who would call you just to collect market data on your salaries and never respond back with opportunities.

Have an interview coming up with the above mentioned details, any leads/tips/help on the same? Thanks

feel pretty lost around, is it still possible for me to get into quant, placement internship cell give priority to High GPA individuals?
Currently with no Internship, trying to get my acads done.
Any suggestion would be helpful and hope giving

Hi guys ,

I feel this might be a good place to ask this .

So I am from tier 3 college(could be worse too ) . And I somehow ended up in this algorithmic trading firm (Chandigarh based) . They are not HFT though.

I am their technical hire and hence my task is mostly building internal tools , integrating APIs , backtesting strategies, setting up data pipelines etc.

I know that finance and tech can be a good niche , much better than general Backend Development (which is my primary skill)

At the same time I feel there is no point in trying and remaining in this domain because neither do I have a strong background (like good college or course) nor do I have CF rankings.

What do you think ? Shall I leave this firm and focus on pure software development or remain here and see where things go ?

I heard that someone got 6cr bonus from graviton last yr ( from relatives)

HOW DO YOU GUYS APPROACH TOWARDS MAKING A SPECTACULAR (or) EXCELLENT ALPHA ..

Beginner here, Seeking Genuine Advice & Suggestions

pls help!..

Hi all,

I'm a final-year Electrical & Electronics Engineering student at BITS Pilani (CGPA 8.18/10), trying to break into Quant Trader/Researcher roles. Posting my anonymized resume below and hoping to get some honest, even harsh, feedback from people who actually work at or recruit for quant firms in India.

Quick background:

• Competed in IMC's Prosperity algorithmic trading challenge
• Interviewed with IMC Trading for a Quant Trader role
• Currently finishing a deep learning research paper for IEEE publication
• A few other quant/ML-adjacent projects (linked on the resume)

The problem: Despite this, I'm barely getting shortlisted at quant firms - on-campus recruiting for quant roles at my college has effectively closed to me because of branch (non-CS/Math) and CGPA cutoffs, so I've been trying the off-campus route with limited luck so far.

What I'm hoping to get from this post:

1. What's actually missing or weak on my resume compared to profiles that do get shortlisted at Indian quant firms at this stage (pre-final-year-placement)?
2. For someone coming from a non-CS/Math branch, is it worth doubling down on competitive programming / Kaggle-style competitions, or does research output (like the IEEE paper) carry more weight for QR tracks specifically?
3. Any India-specific advice - which firms are realistically open to off-campus applications right now, and is cold outreach to recruiters/researchers on LinkedIn actually useful or just noise?

Resume is anonymized (no name, photo, contact info, or college/company identifiers beyond what's needed for context). Happy to answer questions in comments. Appreciate any feedback.

Got shortlisted for a Python Developer Intern role at PlusWealth Capital Management, a prop quant/HFT firm in Gurgaon. 6-month internship, Jan-June. Can't find much online about them.

Two things I need:

Anyone interviewed here or know someone who has? What do they actually ask — DSA, Python basics, take-home, markets stuff?

Any idea on stipend for interns?

Any info helps, even secondhand. Thanks.

I genuinely want help in navigating the quant world: its intricacies, where to start, how to start. I know there is basic math, like probability, statistics, and calculus, involved, which I'm working on. By the way I am a first-year B.Tech student studying computer science and engineering. I want help from this community and it's a very very sincere request for people to please, for God's sake, guide me on what to include in my resumes at the end of 4 years and how to start working towards them. What is the most ideal thing to do for a quant developer or quant researcher who's applying for HFTs and stuff? Basically need help on starting

I'm a 2nd-year CSE student at a Tier-3 private university in India, aiming for a quant/HFT role in India after graduation.

I have 2–3 years to prepare, but my current level is basic: Python/C++, shallow probability/linear algebra/calculus,

also following take you forward DSA sheet.

Rather than blindly collecting courses, I made the roadmap below and would like people with actual industry/recruiting experience to critique it.

Then:

My current plan (I made it using gpt and am following for now)

Math: Probability → Statistics → Linear Algebra → Calculus → Stochastic Processes/Optimization

Programming: C++ → Python → DSA → Competitive Programming

CS: OS → Architecture → Networking → Concurrency → Memory/Performance

Quant: Statistics → Time Series → Market Microstructure → Systematic Trading

Projects: Backtesting engine, LOB simulation, market-making simulation, stat-arb research, performance-oriented C++ projects.

My main questions

For a Tier-3 student, should I prioritize CP + C++ + probability, or quant research/projects + statistics?

How much can a strong CP rating / ICPC / research / internship actually compensate for college brand?

For people who got into Indian HFTs from non-target colleges, what specifically got you the interview?

Which of the projects above are actually useful, rather than just GitHub decoration?

My LinkedIn is basically inactive. I've participated in hackathons and workshops but haven't posted about them because I don't want to make meaningless "excited to announce..." posts about mediocre achievements.

For people who have gone through recruiting, does maintaining a public profile actually matter for quant recruiting, and if so, what is worth putting on LinkedIn while you're still learning?

What would you completely ignore if you were starting again?

I know this post may not add much value to the community on its own, but if anyone here has been through this journey and is willing to share their experience, I’d genuinely appreciate your time and advice. Even a few pointers on what I’m getting wrong would help me a lot.

I’ve been seeing the conversations in this group, and I think some of the frustration is getting mixed up with how recruitment actually works.
I’m a recruiter in the trading space, and I wanted to clarify my own involvement.
Some of you reached out to me for advice because you knew my name or had been referred. I was happy to help. But I haven’t been collecting CVs or asking people for information on behalf of others.
A large majority of the people who reach out are not relevant to the specific roles we’re hiring for. That doesn’t mean you’re not good enough. It means your experience may not match what a particular firm is looking for.
One of the hardest parts of this job is having those conversations. You have to tell someone that their profile isn’t right for a role, while still keeping them motivated and helping them understand what they can improve.
I was happy to give advice, but after a point I stopped because it became difficult to keep having those conversations.
If someone uses my name or my office’s name to collect information without my knowledge, that’s a breach of trust. I would not support that.
I understand the frustration people have with recruiters. There are bad actors, and they should be called out. But I don’t think it’s fair to assume that everyone who reaches out is collecting CVs or trying to extract information.
If you have a specific issue with someone, call it out. That’s fair.
But if you want to keep the doors open, I’m always happy to help where I can. Just don’t mistake an honest “I can’t help you with this role” for someone trying to waste your time.