GUEST COMMENT: You're not really a quant, are you ?

The word 'quant' is in danger of going the same way as 'natural', 'scientific' and that word so beloved by arts graduates 'organic'; a term of approval, like 'sustainable' which has no meaning outside adverts for hair care products. So here are some tests that allow you to decide

You're not a quant if:

You solve all problems using Monte Carlo

My 8 year old is smarter than you, and he sneers at MC addicts. Learn finite element and finite difference methods, and you should at least try to find an analytic solution.

You can't program in C++

Some quants use F# and C#, or CUDA, and code tick DBs in Q, but they *can* program in C++. Some have to use Java, but they wash their hands afterwards.

You drive Excel all day

Maybe you used to be a quant, maybe you will be a quant one day, but today you're an Excel jockey.

You're a girl

OK, there are female quants, in fact I believe I have the details of all 38 of them, they're easier to place in jobs than men so I'd like more, but in proportion we have more than twice as many ex-fighter pilots.

You've only got an undergrad degree.

Yes, there are MD level quants with only a bachelor degree, but they got hired in the days when the single most common qualification for traders was graduation from Sandhurst. This is 2010, and no I don't care how many times you tell me you went to a 'top school'.

You've got a PhD, CQF, MSc, and CSE

Some people have all these, they are people who can become quants, but they ain't one yet. Passing French GCSE does not make you French, it merely allows you to talk to them, a quant is someone who has done quant work, everything else is hope or wishful thinking.

You haven't read Nassim Taleb's books

You don't have to agree with NNT, but you do need to know why you disagree with him.

You're an economist

Economists can become quants, at which point they change state, the Venn diagram has no overlap.

You work for the FSA

There used to be a quant at the FSA, a good one, a student of Paul Wilmott. He left. You might choose to worry about that given the importance of their work.