Career-Advice for IIT Bombay students. Emphasis on Quant Finance Jobs. Decisions-making on Tech versus Finance, Startups versus Large Firms. Introduction to ZLemma.com to help students identify the right jobs/careers.

1. First steps to a Successful Career
Ashwin Rao
IIT Bombay, Oct 2013

2. My background
• B.Tech. Computer Science. IIT-Bombay.
• Ph.D. Algorithmic Algebra. USC, Los Angeles.
• VP. Quant Strategist. Goldman Sachs, NY.
• Managing Director. Morgan Stanley.
• Founder. ZLemma.com (A Tech Startup)

3. Life after IIT
• IIT tag follows you. Is it a good thing ?
• "We were so naive during our IIT days !"
• Acquire versatility in skills and personality
• Associate with people different than you

4. What are suitable jobs for me ?
• You can figure it out objectively
• Glamour, Money and the Mom Syndrome
• Understand your Skills and your Taste
• Think Career, not Jobs

5. Prepare Well, but Chill Out
• Research the various jobs thoroughly
• Advice from your classmates and seniors ?
• Personal Life versus Professional Life
• Never compare yourself with others !
• Easy to correct bad jobs or wrong decisions

6. Higher Studies
• Titles like MBA, Ph.D. - what is their value ?
• What do the best employers care about ?
• Ph.D. è If you want to be an academic
• MBA è Reset career. Timing? India or US?
• Masters versus Ph.D.

7. Quant Finance Jobs
• Derivatives Trader
• Trading Desk Quant Strategist
• Derivatives Modeler, Statistical Modeler
• Algorithmic Trading Quant
• Analytics Developer

8. Current Wall Street Scenario
• Regulations have reshaped the industry
• Compensation levels down but still high
• Engineers are thriving in quant finance
• Markets turning increasingly electronic
• More emphasis on vanilla trading businesses

9. Tech Jobs
• Boom in Tech, particularly in Silicon Valley
• Tech jobs don't pay well ?
• Example - Big Data
• Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon
• Exciting tech jobs in India ?

10. Quant Finance versus Tech
• Do you enjoy Continuous Math?
• Depth versus Breadth
• Office environment and Colleagues
• Compensation
• Location

11. Interviews
• Represent your abilities clearly and accurately
• Typically, a large and diverse set of interviewers
• Flood of puzzles/programming/math problems
• Tough Qs in your claimed areas of expertise
• Evaluation of your communication and attitude

12. Startups
• Not for everyone
• <Market, Product, Team>
• Funding
• Advisors
• Passion

13. ZLemma
• Zlemma.com evaluates your profile in great detail
• Zlemma Quotient (ZQ) – your suitability for a job
• ZQ is a score out of 100 for a specific job
• Hiring manager model their requirements in detail
• Jobs ranging from Silicon Valley to Wall Street

16. Addendum
• Tune in to: blog.zlemma.com
• Write to: ashwin@zlemma.com for advice
• Our app is your friend: zlemma.com