How to get into Quant in 2026 | Skills, Resources & Interviews

Software engineers at Google or Meta might earn $150K–$200K as new grads. But there’s a lesser-known role where new grads are making $400K–$600K straight out of college. That role is Quant Engineer. In this video, I break down what quant engineers actually do, how they differ from quant traders and researchers, what skills you really need, and how people are landing offers at firms like Jane Street, Citadel, Jump Trading, SIG, IMC, and Optiver even without Ivy League degrees or finance backgrounds. If you’re a CS student, new grad, or software engineer wondering whether quant is worth the grind, this video will save you months of confusion. 🚀 What you’ll learn ✅ What quant engineers actually do (and how they differ from traders & researchers) ✅ Why quant engineers earn $400K - $600K as new grads ✅ The 3 main types of quant roles and which one fits you ✅ The exact math, programming, and systems skills you need ✅ How hard quant interviews really are (and how they’re structured) ✅ The best resources for math, coding, and interview prep ✅ How much school prestige actually matters ✅ Who should NOT pursue a quant career ✅ The realistic timeline to prepare (and what most people underestimate) ⏱️ Timestamps 0:00 Why Quant 1:35 Types of Quant Roles 3:20 Skills to Master 5:00 Best Resources 6:25 Interview Process 7:56 Who Shouldn’t Try Quant 9:08 Final Advice about me I’m Maddy, a senior software engineer (prev. at Google), with prior internships at Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, IBM, and Amazon. Sharing my journey here - thanks for watching 🤍 🔗find me on other socials Instagram   / madeline.m.zhang   LinkedIn   / madelinemzhang   Tiktok   / madeline.m.zhang   🔔 Subscribe for more tech career tips & coding content! *disclaimer: views are all my own and do not represent any current / past employer(s) #quant, #quantengineering, #quantdeveloper, #highfrequencytrading, #quantfinance, #systematictrading, #algorithmictrading, #lowlatency, #derivatives, #timeseriesanalysis, #probabilitytheory, #linearalgebra, #optimization, #numericalmethods, #datastructures, #algorithms, #cplusplus, #moderncpp, #python, #numpy, #pandas, #machinelearning, #janeStreet, #citadel