Transcription
So, the other night I'm sitting on the couch kind of minding my own business while my fiance is watching some show on Netflix called Singles Inferno. I don't know if any of your wives or girlfriends are into this show.
Basically, if you haven't seen it, it's a Korean dating show where all the hot people are stranded on some deserted island and all have to couple up and there's all this drama and all this stuff. You know, usually when she watches this stuff, I could care less. I'm kind of doing anything else but watch this nonsense.
But then this new guy walks in. His name is Lee Sun Hun. He goes by Samuel. So basically this Samuel guy introduces himself. And usually on these shows, I mean they're like influencers or waiters or male models or something. Maybe they own a gym. But so Samuel comes on and drops a total bomb that he works as a quant trader on Wall Street.
Now, the people on the show looked at him like they didn't have a clue what he was talking about. So, I immediately put down my phone and looked at my fiance and said, "Do you think they have any idea? This guy probably makes more than all of them combined." So, forget the romance. Forget that nonsense drama. I immediately went to LinkedIn to see who the hell this guy was so I could figure out how much money he was actually making.
What I found was pretty insane. And so today we're breaking down exactly who this guy is, what quant trading actually means, and why mathematically speaking, he is the biggest catch on the show for these other Korean ladies.
Okay, so let's look at the stats. This guy isn't just some random low-level trader. Looks like he actually went to UC Berkeley for computer science. That is an absolute topflight school right there. But here's the kicker. He actually didn't start in finance. It looks like he did the classic Silicon Valley big tech route first. He was a software engineer at Amazon and then Google. He even did a stint at Snowflake, which I'm going to have a video on that technology coming very soon.
Now, that is a dream resume for 99% of people in tech. He's already probably pulling in minimum 200 to 300 a year as a solid L4 L5 engineer with massive bonuses and potentially stock options on top of there. But clearly that wasn't enough for this guy because in February 2023 he pivoted. He left the cushy Google life which we know how great that is to join Jump Trading in New York City.
Now if you don't know Jump Trading this is basically the Navy Seals of finance. It's a proprietary trading firm. They don't trade with their clients money. They trade with their own money using high-frequency algorithms. Now, getting a job at Google is, as we know, extremely hard. But getting a job at jump trading is statistically harder than getting into Harvard. We're talking sub 1% acceptance rates for all the people that apply.
So, the big question, why did I tell my fiance he's easily the richest guy there? So, let's get into what I think his numbers look like. So, as a software engineer at Google, Samuel was likely making around 250 to 300K total comp absolute bare minimum. Now, as we know, that's really good, but quant trading is a totally different beast. In this world, you actually eat what you kill.
For a quant trader with his level of experience at a top level firm like Jump, base salary alone is probably bare minimum 200 to 250K. And I've worked with these guys a little bit a few years back. And that's pretty much in line with what they were paying. Thing is, nobody becomes a quant for the base salary. They do it for the massive bonus. Basically, if Samuel's team performs well, and Jump usually does, his bonus could easily be 100 to 300% of his base salary. So, conservatively, we're looking at a total comp of 500 to 750K a year, probably bare minimum for this guy. And if he has an absolute blowout year, without a doubt, he is in seven figures and probably in mid7 figures. When it comes to quad trading, that type of comp is not just possible, it's actually pretty normal.
So, while the other guys on this show are hoping this Netflix appearance might get them some low-level protein sponsorship for a couple grand or a fitness apparel sponsorship, Samuel is casually making $500 an hour just thinking about math all day.
Now, a lot of you watching this channel are probably software engineers and you're probably thinking, I know Python. Can I actually do this quant trading thing? Well, the answer is maybe. But it is a bit different. Basically, software engineering is about building systems. You care about clean code, latency, scalability, system design. Quant trading is all about math. It's about statistics. It's about finding tiny inefficiencies in the market and then totally exploiting them before anyone else does.
So, basically, Samuel isn't just writing if else statements. He's using C++ for speed and Python for analysis to model probability. He's dealing with stochastic calculus. If you hated linear algebra in college, this job is absolutely your nightmare. But if you were the kid doing math Olympi ads for fun, which Samuel probably was, this is where you go to get paid pro alete level money.
So, back to Singles Inferno. While everyone on the show is analyzing personality types and chemistry, I'm sitting there analyzing career risk profile. And I told my fianceé, honestly, he's the smartest pick for these girls on the island. Think about it from a pure stability standpoint. You have influencers and models whose careers are totally dependent on staying relevant on social media. And as I know, this is an absolute grind. It's high stress and it can disappear overnight or you could get cancer.
Then you have over here Samuel. He's in a field where his value is purely objective. If his math works, he makes money. It doesn't matter if people like him or not. Plus, prop trading is one of the few industries that can actually be recession proof. When markets get crazy and volatile, which obviously is bad for most jobs, it's actually when quants tend to have their best years. So, sure, the romance and the chemistry is great and all, but if we're talking about who has the best long-term career trajectory, it's the guy who understands arbitrage, hands down.
But in all seriousness, this highlights a corner of the tech industry that people kind of forget about. Now, if you want big money, you don't only have to work at fang companies. Actually, fintech and prop trading are arguably the highest paying tiers for engineering talent right now. And if you want to know more about how to actually break into these quant roles, what specific languages to learn, and how to pass the interviews, let me know in the comments.
And if you're watching Singles Inferno, tell me, did they actually pick the right guy? Actually, is that how this show actually works? I'm not sure. But anyway, thanks again. We'll catch you in the next one.