Is Higher Education Required for a Quant?
I analyzed the first 1000 Financial Quantitative Analyst/Researcher positions on Indeed (automatically, of course) and gathered the following statistics:
- 637 require higher education (63.7%)
- 319 of them mention an MSc or PhD
- 422 mention a preference for STEM fields such as physics, mathematics, computer science, etc.
- The remaining 36.3% of jobs do not specify a higher education requirement.
Does it sound promising that over a third of these jobs allow you to apply without a diploma?
Actually, no. Many employers don't state this explicitly because they assume it, and they will reject candidates without the expected education listed on their CV.
That sounds sad, doesn't it?
But there's good news: some employers do care about your skills rather than just your diploma, though they are few. However, your success depends on two things:
- Your actual skills
- Your stubbornness
Stubbornness, a personal trait and soft skill, isn't the focus of this blog.
But how do you get the hard skills without higher education? Where are you going to learn mathematics and statistics? The most obvious answer is university, bringing us back to the starting point: you need to go to university.
Is it possible to learn it by yourself? Sure. Just find any university program, get the books, and start solving problems. You can even self-examine or hire a tutor for it. It will be a much better result than what 90% of universities provide, especially if you're stuck in a third-world country.
However, there are two problems with this approach:
- You must be highly responsible and self-motivated to achieve the equivalent of higher education on your own. Many people don't have enough willpower and will just drop it halfway.
- You don't get a diploma as confirmation of your knowledge. This creates a problem with the job search we discussed above. This means that after solving the first problem — learning the required skills — you face another challenge: getting a job without any formal confirmation of your skills.
On the other hand, a university diploma is not the only thing that can prove your skills. There are a lot of certifications like CFA, CQF, etc. These are really valued in the financial field. Nothing prevents you from preparing and passing the exams. However, companies may still prefer candidates with higher education.
In conclusion, is it possible to become a Quant without higher education? Yes. I can surely state this as a person who got their first Quant job without any diploma or certification.
Is it worth it? No. If there are two ways with the same result but one of them is much simpler, why choose the harder one? But if, for whatever reason, this is your path, refer to answer 1.
