Do Projects Matter in Quant Finance?

The question was asked about the value a project can add to your resume. It is best for those near grad school who are needing to add skills they didn't obtain in school or for industry practitioners looking to transfer from another industry where they also don't have relevant skills. On the Discord channel someone was debating this with me about being published in nature or a math competition adds value. I am sure there are people who think that indicates a smart individual and hires based on IQ however many firms hire based on skills. The discussion led to firms just being able to buy the best talent. Unfortunately finding top talent is VERY hard and most top talent doesn't chase dollars. Academics are a good example and anyone who has a family and has settled down will understand that money doesn't motivate most to change their whole lives.

Projects can help if the project is in-depth enough and has applications to finance in some way. Example f a too easy project is programming out the Black-Scholes. Find a model type and apply it to real data from online. Really struggle with it and list out your results on the resume. In the industry we rarely get easy and clean solutions. There are often many assumptions and risks associated with using the models and methods.


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