Hi Dimitri, excellent analysis between quants and actuaries. I work as an actuary in the US, totally agree that jumping between actuaries and quant is rare because of the enormous gaps of knowledge that need to be filled in order to move into each respective field. One thing I want to add on the actuarial side, is that a lot of work entails diving into the models to understand the underlying assumptions within the models. Doing sensitivity test of these assumptions, and coming up with the appropriate assumptions based on historical data. Also, being a successful actuary involves being able to work with quants and risk managers to get certain projects done. So having teamwork skills to work with professionals in other areas is very important.
@DimitriBianco5 жыл бұрын
Well said.
@IW4TCH5 жыл бұрын
Hey Dmitri, you mentioned that a quant must always be up to date on all the latest techniques and methods. My questions is, what journals or academic journals do quants follow in order to stay up to date?
@DimitriBianco5 жыл бұрын
As for journals I don't follow any specific one. I usually find papers during the research process of solving a problem or working along with a textbook. Most textbooks only give you a small fraction of the information and it's up to the reader to find other papers or books. Hull's derivatives book has a lot of references at the end of each chapter which give the reader an idea of what else to cover. As for keeping up with the industry, this is really job specific however industry wide quants are diving into machine learning/AI. One project I was working on was validating neural networks packages for use at work. This required getting documentation from the library developers, checking their math, implementing the package and checking the results, as well as learning neural networks. I'll make a general video on my process and resources but in general quants pick one area and focus very deeply on it for years. This doesn't mean you only do one thing however it does mean you are really obsessed with a specific area. For example, I am known as the time-series expert as I have spent years researching and implementing models in the ARIMA realm. I've actually written a few papers and will make a video on my newest paper soon. The video linked is on my first paper which was written towards practitioners and management (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jsV0odGFmd22dpc.html).
@dmitry94355 жыл бұрын
There is quite a few publications that cover the topic of applied mathematics/statistics in finance. Depending on your field of concentration you will see the articles that could considered seminal to your fields sprinkled across a smaller subset of the industry press. It is also worth noting that a lot of more innovative and advanced models may be developed by either model vendors or even some banks that keep their own R&D teams (of typically PhD's). In those cases as far as I know the nature of employee-employer relationship is such that the intellectual property belongs to employer. Thus a whole new model of something which would make a great article is ultimately kept private. Depending on the degree of vendor transparency you may have access to fairly detailed methodology which would be highly educational. As far as more public sources are concerned check out this scientific journal ranking website www.scimagojr.com/. It will take some searching and filtering but this site makes it relatively easy. You can start building your own library of (tagged?) web sources from there (google scholar also helps). Many of those magazines have some form of subscription fee, some offer free sample of issue or are available for download outright. The problem maybe that as you try to explore you may not know what would have an impact. Talk to your managers about the company policy on such educational expenses.
@liqritrs83913 жыл бұрын
This is a great video as it reminds me that I'm better off doing what I enjoy and as you mentioned, quants do a lot of coding so if you don't like it don't become one. I don't like it but I do like statistics and probability, statistician it is! Bit odd that I'm getting my career advice entirely from the internet... But I do recognise quality advice when I see it
@DimitriBianco3 жыл бұрын
I'll be having another KZfaqr on the channel as a guest and he has worked in a variety of industries for statistics.
@liqritrs83913 жыл бұрын
@@DimitriBianco awesome, I look forward to it. I relate most to you as we have similar personality’s. Intj here
@ClassicContent5 жыл бұрын
Thanks great content! I have to admit I did cringe when you said Data Scientists don't program much. LOL. Great series - You should interview some Data Scientists who specialise in Machine Learning (not just analytics). I think if you go over the job descriptions you will get a greater idea of what Data Scientists do. A Machine Learning Data Scientist can find roles in Retail Banking Asset Management, Insurance, Risk, Private Equity and many more outside of finance.
@DimitriBianco5 жыл бұрын
I would agree with you. True data scientists do a lot of programming however the term data science has become like "quant" where everyone is claiming it. I have seen a few good data science jobs but a lot of them are really just simplified analytics jobs.
@SamvegBhansali4 жыл бұрын
Hey Dimitri, I have just finished high school. I am intrigued by risk management and statistics. I also am clear that I want to get into the investments world. Hence I was looking for your advice on whether I should become an actuary or work towards becoming a quant. Furthermore with the recent inclusion of quantitive investments module in actuarial science (IFOA UK). Should I pursue actuaries or not?
@DimitriBianco4 жыл бұрын
I would think about whether you want to be in insurance or finance/banking. There is a divide between actuaries and risk management at banks (at least in the US). Many of the skills are similar however different degrees will specialize you more for the different jobs. If you want to do risk management at a bank or investing, I would encourage you to go towards statistics and quantitative finance. The quant investment modules in actuarial sciences are nice but don't go into the same depths as someone with a masters in quant finance (more specialized).
@AshishSoni_Finance5 жыл бұрын
Hey Dimitri, Hello from India. Thoroughly appreciate what you do. I have a question. I am currently a CFA Level 3 Candidate. On one hand, I like working in the investments industry, whereas on the other hand, I most of the time try to automate strategies and find potential investment opportunities. I don't like computer science much, but I like to create models in excel as of now (would be happy to learn more powerful tools). I have just graduated and am 23 years old so I am still new to the corporate world. I currently work as Equity research analyst. Would you think, quant career would be a good fit for me?
@DimitriBianco5 жыл бұрын
From what you have mentioned and it seems you enjoy the traditional finance side (Excel automation and equity research). If you don't like computer science or math and do not have a graduate degree I would recommend just digging deeper in what you already like. If you are looking for more of a challenge and haven't used VBA I would go down that route.