Jorge Rodriguez

“Fair value and change are therefore two sides of the same coin; the more ways in which a security can lose value from a future market move, the less it should rationally be worth today, and hence the mantra: more risk, more return. This difference between the quant’s view of value as an average versus the trader’s need to worry about any change makes this kind of professional cross-communication difficult. Tour”
― Emanuel Derman, My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance

“in this job you really need to know only four things: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division—and most of the time you can get by without division!” I”
― Emanuel Derman, My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance

“Traders and quants are genuinely different species. Traders pride themselves on being tough and forthright while quants are more circumspect and reticent. These differences in personality are reflections of deeper cultural preferences. Traders are paid to act. All day long they watch screens, assimilate economic information, page frantically through spreadsheets, run programs written by quants, enter trades, talk to salespeople and brokers, and punch keys. It’s hard to have an extended conversation with a trader during the business day; it takes an hour of standing around to have five minutes of punctuated repartee. Part of what traders do has a video game quality. In consequence, they learn to be opinionated, visceral, fast-thinking, and decisive, though not always right. They thrive on interruption. Quants”
― Emanuel Derman, My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance

“A good quant must be a mixture, too—part trader, part salesperson, part programmer, and part mathematician.”
― Emanuel Derman, My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance